#just because a parent is loving does not mean they are good

[rakiah]

i just want to to let you know that it was your art of vil with kid jack and leona with kid epel for that single parent leovil fic that really pulled me into leovil. i stumbled upon it by chance when scrolling through a vil blog and saw it reblogged and LOST MY DAMN MIND. particularly baby wolf jack. cause why am i now putting together an epic the musical/odyssey/illiad au for leovil?? (your art. your art is why) itll probably never escape my docs but. so far??

helen and penelope. cousins and princesses of sparta--their dads are brothers and co-ruled. penelope's mother was a water nymph (naiad, so freshwater) whereas helen was the daughter of zeus......soooo.....HEAR ME OUT!!!!!!

neige as helen. vil as penelope. now, i was originally gonna go the rkvl route, because that line in the challenge, when penelope tells the suitors she will marry whoever "can string her husbands old bow and shoot through 12 axes cleanly"--smth her husband odysseus was only able to do, well, a rkvl version of that could go SO HARD.

esp cause like, idk i could just give rook a random kingdom, cause yes, leona is a prince, but technically falena would be king. and i thought of making them menelaus (leona) and agamemnon (falena) with VIL as helen, i mean, come ON!!!!!! it would be SO GOOD!! but odysseus and penelope's story was just tugging at my heart, and i couldnt decide. until i realized that actually this is a fic and it doesnt have to be a 1 to 1 substitution, i can play around and do whatever i want.

(and jack as little wolf telemachus is everything. and neige as helen, both "fairest of them alls" and cursed via apple??? i love it)

sooooo. im thinking.

vil and neige are cousins, princes of. pyroxene? or maybe pyroxene would be made up of a few kingdoms....hmmmmm...idk yet. regardless, their parents' co-rule their kingdom. but neige is the actual heir of the throne. this could be because vil is technically illegitimate. eric had no wife, he just really wanted to be a dad. and so vil's mother, for purposes of this, is either a vampire or a water nymph, or some sort of enchantress, idk, but regardless, vil isnt going to inherit. (also read @pinkbeeps sympathy for the villain fic and lost my mind over it so, yeah, crewel is a vil dad, so at some point when vil and neige are 7 and 6 respectively, crewel and eric get together.)

meanwhile, sunset savannah was split by a civil war? or a revolt of some kind. leona and falena stop it, but part of the truce that is made is that falena cannot rule all of it. so the elephant graveyard half, and some surrounding land makes up what becomes leona's kingdom. why? idk.

then, when neige is like, 17, vil 18, and leona 20, its decided that neige should get married, so all the suitors from various kingdoms come. cause, heir to the throne. and fairest of them all. falena, who is now married himself and has cheka, suggests leona go, but leona isnt rlly looking to get married. falena bugs him abt it tho, and leona still isnt for the marriage thing but rationales that princes and infleuntial people from all over will be vying for neige's hand. leona can go, but not for purposes of throwing his hat in the ring, (neige is an heir and leona has a kingdom to take care of--neither of them would leave their respective homes) but rather, to make connections to better help his people.

and then he meets vil. guy is SMITTENNNNNNN from the get go, he's like, whoever was giving out the fairest of them all titles, did they like, not see you???? heLLO??????

vil is warming up to leona, but also, lets be real, vil has an insecurity abt being a backup, second option when it comes to neige. he would have been wary considering leona is here in technicality as a suitor for neige. but it becomes apparent leona was not here for that in acuality. cause leona, in true oddysseus fashion, does not even bring a wedding gift, guy was just here to network and then fell in love.

it goes as the story always does. neige's parents are worried abt the influx of suitors and wondering how to choose without angering one kingdom over the other. and leona is like, hey i got a solution, but if you want it, you gotta put in a good word for me with vil's parents, your brother and BIL, and you gotta convince them that its okay if vil marries. and theyre like DEAL.

leona proposes his solution--the oath made by all suitors to defend neige and whoever he chooses if a rival ever takes neige away. they would march against the offender and destroy their city.

neige's parents are like damn thats brilliant and then talk to eric and crewel. who put forth a test for leona to pass. he does.

they marry, leona's wedding gift to vil, the living olive tree bed he makes himself, and they have jack and epel, idk how, surrogates? adoption? not sure. but then, the apple, neige is taken away, and that oath comes back to bite leona in the ass. he pretends he's crazy to dodge the draft but baby jack gets tossed in front of the plough and leona saves them, and is forced to go to war etc etc. they win, and then it takes him FOREVERRRR to get home, and then--well we know how it goes!

wow. sorry for just. dumping this in your ask box. i was just trying to appreciate your art and i ended up dropping the au inspired by your art in here. oops

Alright, let’s process step by step cause this ask just made me go wild when I read it. /p

[deep breath]

First, thank you very much! 💕 It’s always a delight to know that more people are into leovil because of me 8D I feel like a priest in Age of Empires (big old ref here ha ha)

Second, your Epic/ Odysseus/ Illiad AU.

I was flabbergasted cause, a few days ago I saw a new leovil fic about Epic the Musical (yes, I do have an open tab of Ao3 on my phone with the leovil tag that I refresh almost every night. When I say I have an otp, I have an otp.) and, since the name rings vaguely a bell, I asked my theater kid friend about this Musical. I just wanted to listen to it before reading the fic and then, I understood Epic the Musical.

AND

YOU CAME.

:’D

I take that as a sign.

Thank you for sharing those thoughts, that was great! I wish you the best for your AU and hope you write it and maybe post it! Otherwise, it’s fine! No pressure of course, I’m already glad with your ask! x3

Anyway, here for you. I couldn’t help sketching those. They imposed themself. Literally.

Pretty sure Vil’d start to poison the suitors too.

[morgannalefey]

I'm going to try one more time because I'm I dunno a glutton for punishment or something. I don't have a lot of hope, though. My impression is that most folks aren't actually reading everything I have to say and are, at best, skimming. Which, to be fair, is par for the course on this site. For this reason there's a tl;dr at the end you can jump to if you're so inclined. The rest of this post is pretty long in order to explain, but if you don't really care about the explanation and just want to be horrified, go for it.

I'm fifty nine years old. I have been married for thirty six years. Prior to that marriage, I had been with a lot of different people in the 8 years between when I became sexually active and I got my spouse. So I am not inexperienced in either sexual encounters, problems relating to sexual relations, relationships (both long and short term), nor differences in hygiene habits.

In response to your incredulity over people's learned behaviors fading over time:

Habits of childhood can be difficult to unlearn. It's possible to make an effort to change a habit, but then for other things to come up that distract and the change gets forgotten in favor of the muscle memory from childhood. There are many things that I've learned over time that are better ways to do a thing, but sometimes still forget that I've learned a better way and resort to how I originally did the thing. There are many reasons why this might happen such as distractions or having too many things to think about so my body operates on autopilot for some things. If this continues for a while, one typically loses the new habit and has to relearn the new way of doing things. Though it does tend to come back faster than the initial attempt did, it's still a conscious effort that has to be made.

Back to the main point. The assumption I'm attempting to address here is the one where everyone learns all the same basic hygiene lessons and that no one could ever have any reason for not having learned to make sure to wash their privates all the way down to and including the perineum and anal area. This assumption carries a whole lot weight. Here's a partial list of things being assumed:

That they have a parent or family member who has taught them how to clean themselves well.

That the family had water that was safe to wash thoroughly in most of the time.

That the family had the money to pay for the water bills and didn't deliberately avoid certain washing rituals because of the cost of water.

That they had present family members at all.

That they weren't living unhoused for part or most of their childhood, making washing (and especially washing the private parts) less common or safe to do because showers and such weren't always available and washing on the street could get one arrested.

This is a list of situations I can think of off the top of my head that might mean a person wasn't really taught how to clean themselves properly or that might have prevented them developing the habit. It is hardly exhaustive.

Because I recognize that people have very different lived experiences than I have had, when I'm faced with a situation like has been mentioned in this thread, I'd be more likely to just ask some questions or try to have a conversation about it. As I said before, assuming that the relationship was otherwise a good one. No one is perfect and if I threw out an entire, very good, loving, and supportive relationship because of discovering a situation in my spouse's upbringing that was weird and a little gross to me, I wouldn't still be with my spouse. If, after talking with them, it turns out that they're just a lazy, dirty person who won't even try learning a new way to exist in order to not make their partner sick, that's a completely different situation.

Now that being said, I've broken up with a guy because of how he chewed (I could not stand it, his whole family chewed like that. Even the slightest possibility of having to spend my life around those people gave me the screaming willies. Still, I did mention it to him and he was unwilling to adjust how he chewed for me. So that was it). I've broken up with guys because I couldn't stand how they smelled even after showering.

I'm not saying it's not a break up worthy offense to not keep one's privates clean for one's partner. I'd probably be far less inclined to talk to him if he were an occasional partner, not a "boyfriend" but "boyfriend" suggests a certain degree of emotional entanglement that usually means one has put some effort into the relationship. It just seems extreme to not even talk to the boyfriend about the issue to see how they respond and instead to just dump them, but maybe that can be chalked it up to my extreme old age.

tl;dr Not everyone learns exactly the same lessons about washing their privates. Basic hygiene is a skill that has to be taught, it is not instinctive. Not everyone grew up with the same resources, family, water, time, as everyone else. The term "boyfriend" seems more involved than "fuck buddy" and so taking the time to talk to the boyfriend about something that's bothersome doesn't seem like an unreasonable course of action.

[zweetpea]

Mrs. "Wayne"

Part 2

Content warning: Swears, Arranged Marriage, murder (Not by Bruce because he doesn't kill), threats

This chapter is a bit shorter than the last but I think this is a sweet ended to this story. (For now... If I think of something to add to it I'll make a proper finale).

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

You awoke with a bag over your eyes, a rope around your wrists, and a killer headache.

Bruce ripped the bag off your head. “You’re lucky I have a no kill policy. But trust me when I say that if you’re going to wish I did.”

“Scary.” You mocked in a smooth and dull voice. “Does that work on all the drug addicted mental patients in spirit halloween costumes that you beat up?”

He grabbed your chin and pulled you forward a bit. “Don’t play with me, little girl.”

“Don’t call me little girl, old man. What do you want?” You asked boredly. 

He glared at you. “I should be the one asking that.” He spat.

You looked at him anammused and unenthusiastically said, “I’d like to be let out of the chair.” He tips the chair back slightly over the edge of this cliff in the cave. “Okay! Okay! I want the divorce to be quiet! I won’t take a small settlement! In fact I won’t ask for any money or assets! I-! Um… I want a pony? WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY!!” You started to panic. There were a lot of things you could do, but surviving a 10-20 foot drop into a moat, while being tied up was not one of them.

He tips the chair back onto solid ground and grabs both of her shoulders. “You want a pony in exchange for your silence about the bat cave and my family?”

“Oh that’s what this is about?” The fear on your face dissipated. “I don’t really care about this.”

Bruce took a step back in shock. “What?”

“Yeah. This place is honestly amazing and I’m actually very impressed at what you do.” Your voice was genuine as you looked up at him.

He seemed skeptical. “You are?”

You smiled slightly. “Well, yeah! You fight 2 meta-humans, a bunch of psycho clown gymnasts, two guys in super suits, and just a bunch of other freaks every other week! Are you some kind of immortal being or something?” You geeked out a bit.

He looked at you surprised. “You know a lot about me.”

“Well, in retrospect, no offense but it’s kind of sad… and pathetic.” She looked at him sympathetically

He scoffs. “How?”

“You spent 14 years training to avenge your parents murder and you didn’t think to see a therapist?” 

“Point taken.” He started to untie You. “So you promise you won’t tell anyone?”

“Yeah. I’m not about to get dragged into this! Regardless of the truth behind our relationship, bad guys are going to come for me if I start blabbing about you guys. Not only that but the cops are going to hall me off to jail too if you get caught for vigilantism.”

“Oh… I didn’t think of that. I’m sorry…” He sits down on the cliffside with his head in his hands. “This whole thing has been a disaster.”

You sat down next to him. “Bruce?” You looked over curiously.

“Yeah?” He muttered.

You hesitated. “Why did you marry me?” You couldn’t bring yourself to look at him.

“Kid flash made a joke about my irresponsible love life and I guess I took it to heart.” He confessed somberly.

You patted his shoulder comfortingly. “All teenagers suck. It’s just growing pains.”

“I don’t like being bullied by an 8th grader.” He looked over in what you want to describe as a pout but that can’t be right. This is batman! Batman doesn’t pout! He broods!

“Imagine how Damian is going to be at that age.” You giggled. He growled and looked away. Oh my goodness. Batman was pouting. You burst out in laughter. “You are too special, Bruce.” You gave him a quick side hug and pulled yourself up. “Come on. Let’s go order take out and laugh at how stupid Villains are.”

He smiled at you slightly and pulled himself up as well. “Yeah… They are pretty stupid.”

“I mean it took me two months to find this place when they haven't come close in 2 decades!” She laughed and took his arm in hers. 

“Well Condiment king found this place a decade ago. But no one’s heard from him since so the villains stopped trying.” Bruce smirked.

You looked up at him worriedly. “I thought you didn’t kill.”

“I don’t, but my ex-special forces of a butler does.” He closes up the door to the batcave.

“...oh…”

He kissed your forehead and ushered you out of the library. “Nothing you need to worry about. Now let’s go order some takeout!”

You two ordered some Chinese food and lounged on the couch watching whatever was popular on Wayneflix. Bruce ordered shrimp fried rice and egg rolls while you just got a little of whatever caught your eye.

You pulled a throw blanket over you both and ate straight from the take out containers. It was weird being so close to him.

“I thought you didn’t like me touching you.” He reminded you of what you’d said less than a few hours ago. Seems like he noticed it too.

You shrugged. “I don’t like you feeling me up but I don’t mind cuddling. I suppose I should get used to it considering the fact that you’re probably going to keep me under lock and key for the rest of my life.” You shuffled closer to him.

He was silent for a moment before he spoke in a reassuring tone: “It’s not forever. Just a little while. I need to be sure you don’t plan on running off to the alps of Switzerland or something.”

You rolled your eyes. “No! Don’t be ridiculous! …Still can’t believe that the world hasn’t figured out you’re Batman yet. It’s so obvious in retrospect! Is that just my hindsight bias showing?”

“Maybe. Or maybe it’s the fact that a few tabloids are still floating around the idea that Batman is some kryptonian pet that Superman brought with him that gained a high level of intelligence.” Bruce practically shovelled his portion of food down his throat. 

“Pace yourself!” You scolded him. “And there’s no way anyone actually believes that.”

“Yeah well there’s also no concrete proof that links me to my alter ego.” Bruce pointed out in a playful tone.

“Yeah but… people don’t even float around the idea you're his sugar daddy-” You were interrupted by a certain tween.

“Father! Todd has informed me that he will be over shortly- Are you two cuddling?” Damian sounded repulsed by the idea.

You looked up at him. “Hey terror tot.” You greeted, flatly.

“Damian, I saved half my shrimp fried rice for you.” Bruce offered rather uncharacteristically warmly.

Damian turned away in a pout. “No thank you father. I hope you and your mistress have fun on your date.”

You interjected. “Firstly, super not the mistress. Secondly, it’s not like a date date so you can join us if you want. Thirdly, growing nestlings need to eat to build strength.”

Damian froze as Bruce sighed and rolled his eyes. “What did you just call me?”  Damian's voice was mostly steady but there was undeniably a hint of fear.

“Damian, she knows about the bat cave.” Bruce calmed the boy.

“YOU SHOWED HER THE BAT CAVE!!” Damian screamed in shock and fury.

“Damian, compose yourself!” Bruce stood up. The two stared each other down from opposite sides of the couch.

“So are we abandoning movie night?” Your question went unanswered as Damian started ripping into Bruce about how irresponsible it was for him to show it off to “Impress her” (his words); and how hypocritical he was.

Bruce finally grabbed Damian’s shoulders and got him to quiet down. “She found the batcave.”

“A likely story.” Damian crossed his arms and grimaced at you.

“History of taxes, fifth shelf from the bottom, middle-right to the left of the big bay window in the library, dewey decimal number 336.20.”

“It took you two months to find the bat cave?” Damian raised an eyebrow at you.

You looked back at him. “In all honesty I just wanted to read something you guys hadn’t. Some books might be boring but it’s better to actually read the books to you rather than flaunt them, like some wannabe Jay Gatsby.”

Damian stood there in shock. “You’ve read The Great Gatsby?”

You scoffed. “Everyone had to read The Great Gatsby. I had a terrible teacher that basically told us Daisy was the victim throughout the Novel. Which I would understand if she was drawing that conclusion from synchronizing her with Fitzgerald’s actual wife Zelda but she wasn’t.” You paused the movie for a second. “The Great Gatsby is a weird novel when you actually understand the story of the people behind it. Fitzgerald is Gatsby and Zelda is Daisy. However the entire book portrays their relationship as a fantasy. Gatsby grows to regret it. He lusts for her beauty and wealth while Daisy almost comes off as superficial. The rich stay rich and the poor men who try to make a name for themselves are naive fools. It really paints a bad light on how he viewed his own wife.”

The two men looked at you in utter shock. “What’s hilariously sad is the fact that Fitzgerald based a lot of what he wrote around Zelda’s diary entries. Daisy is horribly depressed in her marriage, and she hates her husband. You’d think that Fitzgerald would realize how much his wife despised him and how unhappy he made her but he seemed oblivious to that fact.” You grabbed the container of shrimp fried rice and handed it to Damian. “So if you’ll excuse us, I'd like to get back to bonding with my husband so we don’t end up like Zelda and her vile husband.” You pulled Bruce back onto the couch and gave him what you had left of your take out.

“You don’t have to-” Bruce tried to protest and give you back your food.

“I assume you’ll be out late. You’ll need energy if you’re going to be staying out till dawn.”

“I just want to take a nap…” He mumbled and held you close like a child holding a plushie.”

You fixed the blanket over you both again and got comfy in his arms. “Get some rest Bruce. You need it.”

[30somethingautisticteacher]

A fluffy ficlet to combat some of the day's ugliness!

****

Love and Anethesia

"How does someone make it to forty with all four of their wisdom teeth?" Eddie asked, leaning against the waiting room wall with his arms crossed. The fluorescent lights made the dental office feel somehow both too sterile and too intimate.

"He said his parents weren't really 'dentist people'—whatever that means," Buck said, fidgeting with his keys. "Anyway, thanks for coming with me. The dentist said he's going to be super loopy, and I can't really drive and take care of him at the same time."

Before Eddie could answer, the quiet hum of the office was interrupted by the squeak of wheelchair wheels. Tommy was being guided out to the lobby by a nurse, his cheeks comically swollen with gauze.

"Hey sweetheart," Buck said softly, moving to Tommy's side. "How you feeling?"

Tommy's eyes were glazed and wandering, but they lit up at the sound of Buck's voice. "It's my boyfriend, Eleven!" His words were slurred around the gauze. He squinted, looking confused. "No, that's not right—he's a deer, but only not to me." His unfocused gaze drifted to Eddie, and his face broke into a dopey grin. "And this guy! But he doesn't have a mustache anymore and that makes me sad. Poor little guy." He reached out as if to pat Eddie's now-bare upper lip, but his hand missed by several inches.

Buck bit his lip to keep from laughing, while Eddie's eyebrows shot up in amusement.

"Ok, big guy," the nurse said with a practiced smile. "These guys are going to take you home."

"But what about my surgery?" Tommy asked, his brow furrowing in genuine concern beneath the haze of anesthesia.

"Babe, you just had your surgery," Buck said gently, exchanging an amused look with Eddie.

Tommy blinked slowly, processing this information. "Well then get me out of here," he declared with sudden urgency, attempting to stand up from the wheelchair and nearly tipping forward before Buck steadied him.

Somehow they managed to get Tommy strapped into Buck's Jeep, a process that involved Eddie guiding his wobbly legs while Buck supported his weight. Once Tommy was secure, Buck crawled in next to him in the backseat.

"You're sitting next to me?" Tommy asked, his head lolling against the headrest. His eyes widened with sudden realization. "Why am I in the backseat?" He started fumbling with his seatbelt. "It's ok, I can drive."

"Whoa, no you can't," Buck said quickly, catching Tommy's hands before he could unclip the belt. He threaded their fingers together instead, a practiced move to keep his boyfriend contained.

"You're pretty," Tommy said dreamily to Buck. "Do you like boys?" His eyes fixed on the birthmark above Buck's eye with intense fascination. "I want to kiss your face and your red eye splotch."

Buck caught Tommy's wandering hand, his expression a mix of amusement and tenderness. Eddie's quiet laugh from the driver's seat wasn't helping him keep a straight face.

"Yeah sweetheart, I like boys," Buck said softly, still holding Tommy's hand. His smile grew wider as Tommy stared at him in wonder, like he was discovering this information for the first time.

"That's so good," Tommy slurred, looking absolutely delighted. "That's so good because I like boys too. Well, just you. You're my favorite boy." He leaned heavily against Buck's shoulder, then jerked back up. "Wait, does that mean we can date?"

From the driver's seat, Eddie couldn't hold back his snort of laughter.

Tommy started to fall asleep, his head drooping onto Buck's shoulder. "I'm gonna hug you and kiss you and marry you," he mumbled, words growing softer as he drifted off. "And make little smudge-eyed babies."

Buck's heart melted at Tommy's drug-addled declaration. He caught Eddie's knowing smirk in the rearview mirror and rolled his eyes fondly, pulling Tommy closer against his side as his boyfriend finally succumbed to sleep.

[brucebocchi]

Ranking 2024 anime, Pt. 5: #10-1

hey, this post is also available on my ko-fi, so please check it out and consider tipping/donating as i do this for free and am currently between jobs. you can find part 1 of the list here, part 2 here, part 3 here, and part 4 here. all of my seasonal reviews are on my ko-fi and under my anime reviews tag, mixed in with my occasional musings. thanks!

And we are in the home stretch! I didn't want to split up my top 10 like last year, so it took a couple days to get it all together. Thanks for your patience.

​As you may have noticed, some of these reviews are longer than others. I've reviewed most of these shows before, so I didn't want to be too redundant while talking about shows I've already reviewed. You can, of course, go back and read my initial reviews in my previous seasonal roundups.

Also, I just wanted to quickly shout out a few shows that I haven't watched much or any of, but would likely have placed well in these rankings, namely Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction, YATAGARASU, the Spice and Wolf remake, Orb: On the Movements of Earth, Sound! Euphonium's third season, and the late Akira Toriyama's SAND LAND and Dragon Ball DAIMA. I only have so much time in a day, week, month, and year, but those series have been on my radar and I do intend to pick them up sooner or later.

But for now, let's focus on what I did watch. Off we go:

10. Blue Box

This is a slightly biased placement on my end because I picked up the manga this year and quickly fell in love with it, and I’m just happy that it got a faithful, well-made anime adaptation. If you have an issue with that, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret: This whole list is biased. It’s MY list, after all.

After an uneven summer output between My Dear Friend Nokotan and Suicide Squad Isekai, WIT Studio is in full form adapting Kouji Miura’s gorgeous high school sports romance. Rising first-year badminton player Taiki has a huge crush on his basketball star senpai Chinatsu, who practices in the same high school gym he does. He’s happy enough to keep a friendly distance as they improve at their respective sports, but that distance is closed significantly when her parents go abroad for work and she ends up moving in under the same roof as him. The spirit of competition is in the air, and is that a whiff of romance I smell as well?

The reason I felt the need to call out my own bias at the start is because Blue Box’s debut cour is, on balance, probably just “pretty good,” but I was just so overjoyed that this anime even exists that I was willing to overlook the early story’s growing pains. Taiki, of course, is the POV character for most of the first cour, and most of the romantic tension we see so far is entirely from his end as he swoons and huffs and goes into cardiac arrest over any and every gesture Chinatsu throws his way. You know, teenage boy stuff. There have been criticisms that Chinatsu doesn’t get much interiority for a bit and that she’s a bit of an enigma in terms of her role in the central “romance,” such that it is so far, which is a valid criticism of a lot of shonen romance stories. I’m generally of the mind that these things are more potent when the object of the protagonist’s affection is treated as more than a puzzle for him to solve, but I think Blue Box does a fine job of establishing what Chinatsu means to Taiki before we do indeed begin to get a feel for how she operates and what she might think of him. If you found that part a little maddening early on, trust me when I say it’s worth sticking it out.

Regardless, the character writing is what made Blue Box such a hit in Weekly Shonen Jump. Taiki is a flat-out good kid, if a little naive, and his boundless determination to achieve and exceed his goals in both badminton and romance makes him easy to root for. Chinatsu is fairly taciturn, as mentioned, but that’s by design; she’s a notoriously difficult person to read, as even her friends and teammates note that they can rarely decipher what she’s thinking. She’s still an effortlessly charming character, and it’s not hard to figure out why Taiki’s got it so bad for her. The real highlight of the series, though, is Taiki’s classmate and longtime friend, Hina, a rhythmic gymnast and an absolute troll. She is an absolute delight in every scene she’s in, whether she’s knocking Taiki’s knees out from under him, focusing on rehearsing her next routine, or prying into Taiki’s love life and realizing that, oops, she really cares about him too. Hina is wonderful and I just want the best for her.

Characters this likable will need the voices to match, and I am over the moon about this show’s casting. Shouya Chiba is tremendous as Taiki, in a far cry from his Epic Based Stoic Chad role as Ayanokoji in Classroom of the Elite. Every line read for Taiki sounds exactly as gung-ho about sports and devastatingly down bad for his crush as you’d expect of a hormonal 15 year old. Reina Ueda is terrific as the soft-spoken Chinatsu, but I’m looking forward to hearing the always-delightful Xanthe Huynh (Haru in Persona 5, Marianne in Fire Emblem Three Houses) take on the role in the dub just as much. Akari Kitou channels much of the same gremlin energy she did for KamiKatsu to portray Hina’s mischief, and I look forward to hearing her nail Hina’s excellent upcoming character moments. And although it’s a secondary role, the casting I was most excited to hear was Chiaki Kobayashi (Mash in Mashle, Stark in Frieren) as Taiki’s teammate Kyo. Kobayashi’s languid tsukkomi affect was exactly what I had in mind whenever Kyo would put Taiki’s lovelorn antics into stark relief in the manga. It’s like he was born for the part.

This show looks tremendous, perfectly adapting both the soft, doe-eyed character designs from the manga as well as the lower-detail gags. The pastel color palette and gorgeous lighting effects are exactly what I was hoping for while reading the manga.  If I have any complaint, though, it’s mostly that I want to see more of the sports action. The granular details of the badminton matches and basketball games are hardly the focus of the story, but the action panels are usually the best part of Miura’s art in the manga. Shot-for-shot, it certainly does hew close to the manga presentation, but it’s mostly a racquet swing or close-up jump shot followed by an onlooker’s reaction. I’d have liked a bit more follow through. The CGI used for background competitors can get a little distracting after a while, too, but it’s easy to forget about.

Blue Box is continuing into 2025, and I’m waiting for every new episode with bated breath. If you liked the first cour enough but still have doubts, trust me when I say it just keeps getting better. I look forward to coming back to the second half of this season in another year for my victory lap.

9. Girls Band Cry

This is one of the most inventive girls-band anime out there, certainly the most so since that one from 2022 that I swore I wouldn’t bring up by name. Gorgeous 3D-CG animation, stirring original music, and a compelling cast of characters combine to make Girls Band Cry even more than the sum of its parts.

More than anything, I think what makes Girls Band Cry a terrific showbiz series is that it depicts the uncomfortable reality that a lot of artists are just flat-out unpleasant people and often don’t mesh well with one another. Protagonist Nina is messy, stubborn, and angry at the world and her parents and will not hesitate to make it your problem. She butts heads with her friends and bandmates at any provocation, but stubbornness is a major driving factor in the plot: Each of the five members of Togenashi Togeari has something they’re trying to move on from with their music, and while they each have an opinion on how to get there, they do come to realize, after a lot of silly yelling matches, that they want to do so together.

As a vehicle to push Girls Band Cry and Togenashi Togeari as a real-world multimedia experience, this show is a success. It’s a terrific-looking show in ways we rarely see outside of Studio Orange productions (and allegedly Love Live! Sunshine!!, which director Kazuo Sakai also had a hand in); the 3D computer-generated character models and animations are terrifically expressive and lively, and creative visual effects add a compelling sense of synaesthesia to Nina's emotional highs and lows. The voice cast, all pseudonymous contest winners, are also the real-life band members, and they fully nail both elements of their roles. TogeToge’s music in the show is terrific, and as an already-existing Gorillaz-esque virtual band, I’m excited to dig into their back catalog.

Girls Band Cry finally got an official English translation, so there’s no longer any excuse to sleep on this one. It’s funny, it’s heartfelt, and above all else, it fucking rocks. Don’t let this one fade away just because you might’ve missed it when it aired.

8. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, second cour

When I ranked the first cour of Frieren as the best anime of 2023, I wrote:

The debut season of Frieren will continue into 2024, and if the quality remains a constant, it could very well be one of the best anime of next year too. It has remained as MyAnimeList’s top-rated anime ever for its entire run, warding off the legion of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood fans. Frieren deserves it.

A year later, it is still MAL’s top-rated anime, and by a healthy margin. Another 12 episodes aired to kick off 2024, and it was indeed one of the best anime of this year as well. I stand firm in my convictions that not only is it one of the best anime of the decade so far, it’s one of the best anime I’ve ever seen.

I really shot my wad by praising Frieren so profusely midway through its run, to the point where I still don’t really feel the need to add much more here. The second cour mostly focuses on the First Class Mage exam arc, allowing us to learn more about the present state of magic in the modern day and adding some much-needed depth to the cast. It continues to strike a lovely balance between the quieter moments and bonkers action sequences, as well as the more serious moments with laugh-out-loud goofiness. It may be a lesser arc in this story, but it would be a standout in so many others.

If I haven’t been clear enough, I remain over the moon about Frieren. The second cour looks and sounds just as incredible as the first, and this show’s success should serve as a reminder to the industry that investment in quality pays off. Madhouse knows they have a banger on their hands, and if the next season can maintain this level of production value for the major arc that is still to come, Frieren may very well earn GOAT status. Even if another season somehow never materializes, I’ll still be talking about this season in five years when it comes time to talk about the best of the decade. Watch this goddamn show.

7. A Sign of Affection

For all the romance anime and manga I consume, I’ve shamefully been lacking on the shoujo/josei front. I really gotta fix that. If reading more shoujo was what spurred Yukinobu Tatsu to make DanDaDan, then who knows what it might do for me? A Sign of Affection isn’t my first shoujo, strictly speaking, but it does feel like one of the first I’ve seen of the good old-fashioned flowery romance type.

What a gorgeous show. A Sign of Affection looks terrific, sounds terrific, and above all feels terrific. This is just a lovely, fluffy romance with low stakes and easy payoff; just two pretty people getting to know each other and learning to overcome their differences. It’s low on gimmicks and plot contrivances, and for as much as I like romcoms and romance stories with a unique bent, I love a good straightforward romance just as much sometimes. Everyone looks beautiful and likes each other and Jesus Christ look at the lips on these boys. There’s even a double-date to Costco, and what better depiction of marital bliss could there be?

I’m still pleasantly surprised at how this show handles the main character’s disability. Protagonist Yuki’s congenital deafness isn’t a single-note character quirk or a plot device to make her seem helpless; it simply is. It’s a part of her life that serves as the lens through which all of the people in her life see and treat her, and it leads to the only thing that resembles a major conflict in the show. Itsuomi, the main romantic interest, doesn’t baby her or walk all over her; he instead gently tests her boundaries while learning to accommodate her in a way to ensure her comfort. Her childhood friend Oushi, on the other hand, is very jealous of this development because he seems to feel entitled to her just because he did the bare minimum to accommodate her. The circumstances aren’t common, of course, but it’s a good lesson for a shoujo to have: Don’t settle.

My praise for A Sign of Affection mostly boils down to “it’s just really nice,” but it does “just really nice” so goddamn well. It’s fluffy, it’s comfy, it’s cozy, all of those adjectives that would set off my fight-or-flight response if I heard them from someone else, but I was enthralled by this show week in and week out. I can’t believe I neglected to start reading the manga, and I’m gonna have to get on that ASAP because I can’t wait for another season.

6. The Apothecary Diaries, second cour

I found myself more intrigued at The Apothecary Diaries at the end of 2023 than most other shows I’d watched that year. I grew more and more invested in the idiosyncratic Maomao as she investigated mysterious ailments and navigated imperial palace politics, all the while being a lovable little shit. 

Before I’d realized it, though, the 2024 half of its run knew it had its hooks in me and took me for a ride. What looked at first like a series of one-off puzzles quickly began entangling into a much larger mystery, rapidly gaining momentum until exploding into a massive emotional payoff. So many of the small details in what you assume are episodic mystery-of-the-week mini-stories become relevant in unexpected ways and draw you in ever further. I adore this kind of lowkey long-term storytelling, and for it to be part of such an appealing package is basically catnip for me.

For as gorgeous as The Apothecary Diaries can be visually, sonically, and sometimes even emotionally, it’s worth mentioning that this show is also hilarious a lot of the time. Maomao is on permanent goblin mode whenever she isn’t carrying out official business, and any time the palace officials have to rein her in is a delight. The push-and-pull between her and Jinshi is endlessly entertaining to the point where I can wait forever for that payoff if I have to.

I neglected to read the Apothecary Diaries manga after the first season went off the air (though I nearly bought all of it sight unseen), and with the second about to drop, I guess I’m holding off for another six months. Can’t say I mind, though. I’m along for the ride and I want this show to keep surprising me for as long as it can. This is easily one of the best anime of the 2020s so far and I’m gonna be there front row center for every new episode.

5. Bang Brave Bang Bravern

People say “peak fiction” too goddamn often these days. Not that it was a meaningful term to begin with, but it’s been memed to hell and back and is mostly just thrown out ironically to mock garbage writing. To be honest, I’m not above it myself, but I prefer to ascribe it, even jokingly, to stuff that can only truly come from a brilliant and/or deranged mind. Preferably both. Peak fiction, to me, is the intersection where talent meets insanity, no matter the degree of either.

Bang Brave Bang Bravern is peak fiction.

I gushed about this show after the winter season, and I almost don’t want to say anything further about it, mostly for two reasons: Firstly, because I don’t really want to give the game away any more than I already did back in April, and secondly, because I think it may have permanently burrowed into a specific part of my brain and then melted it. All I’m left with is “this show fucking rocks, dudes rock, you need to see it, it’s peak, don't ask questions, just watch it.”

Indeed, Bravern is the Dudes Rock anime of the year, and an essential piece of Dudes Rock media. It’s Top Gun with aliens and a giant talking robot. And the robot wants to fuck his pilot. This show is loud, horny, stupid, and self-aware, combined just so into a cocktail of legitimate brilliance that is, for better or worse, unlike anything I’ve seen before or since. Nearly every single episode had me clawing at my hair and shrieking “WHAT THE FUCK AM I WATCHING,” and that is the highest praise I can give just about anything.

I might be overselling it just a touch, but Bravern is just as earnest as it is utterly wild. It’s an intentionally hilarious show, but it means everything it does and says. It’s a love letter to mecha anime and tokusatsu, and with its top staff sporting Gundam and Macross bona fides, that love oozes into every aspect. The mechs, both manmade and alien, all look tremendous, the music is a throwback to the goofy bombast you’d find in series like this as far back as the Showa era, and the ensemble cast outside of our silly leads are just as gung-ho and serious about Saving The World as you’d find in just about any other mech show. Anything that can be this goofy with a completely straight face is going to hook me in.

All in all, Bang Brave Bang Bravern is hypercompetent lunacy with heart. Call it weaponized genre awareness if you must, but it knows exactly what it’s about, grabs you by the collar, and takes you for a ride, all while doing badass tokusatsu poses and calling out special moves with silly names. This is legitimately what fiction is all about. 

Also, if you don’t like Lulu just because she screeches a lot, you’re a weakling. Gaga-pi, motherfucker.

4. The Dangers in My Heart, season 2

This was a series whose first season was conspicuously absent from my 2023 rankings, but I caught up shortly after finishing that list in order to catch up to the second season. I’d watched a glut of slice-of-life romances in 2023 and figured I could afford to miss this one. I’m overjoyed at how wrong I was.

To paraphrase the second season’s exceptional OP, The Dangers in My Heart is indescribably beautiful. As I said with A Sign of Affection, I love me a straightforward anime romance, and this middle school slice-of-life is just that: Underdeveloped edgelord boy ends up making unlikely friends with, and falling for, the cheery popular girl in his class. This is easy wish-fulfillment on paper, but that’s hiding the trick: Kyotaro isn’t gonna get anything he wants by keeping his quills out for anyone who comes near, and he has some growing up to do if he’s ever gonna get what he wants.

Season 2 picks up right where the first left off, with Kyotaro’s arm still broken from his family trip and Anna feeling guilty because she thinks her distraction was what led to the injury. Right out of the gate, we see the care these two have developed for one another: Anna wants to help while he can’t do his own schoolwork, while Kyo is quick to try to cheer her up when she no longer feels like she’s able to. Already we’re seeing Kyotaro’s character development coming to light: The Dangers in My Heart isn’t a story about a Nice Guy getting the girl just by being there; it’s a story of self-improvement, of trying to become the type of person whom your crush would want to fall in love with. For a story about and ostensibly marketed to early teenagers, that’s a good lesson to have, and I absolutely devour stories like that.

As can be the case with plenty of adolescents, most of the conflict here is internal. Kyotaro spent the early part of his middle school education keeping a safe distance from everyone in order to avoid getting hurt, and as you can imagine, that did a number on his self esteem. Though he’s mostly kicked the chuunibyo mindset, Kyo still prefers to keep his distance, less because he doesn’t want to get hurt, but now because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone else. Specifically Anna. So much of this story is about him learning to be okay with letting people in and not just falling in love, but making friends and becoming somebody whom people just want to be around. It’s a chuuni rehabilitation story. You love to see it.

With all due respect to mangaka Norio Sakurai, the biggest surprise that came from reading the manga was how much better the anime looks than its source material. The anime looks tremendous in its own right, but compared to Sakurai’s doodly, occasionally messy style, the love put into the show stands in stark relief. Characters, backgrounds, and lighting are all soft, squishy, and warm, almost like the entire thing was run through the filter through which only a 13-year-old in love can see, even as a little edgelord. Little flourishes in the environment and music highlight the minute but consequential motes of progression in Kyo and Anna’s relationship. The OP ended up shaking out as my favorite of the year, even with 2024 being bookended by Creepy Nuts bangers. It’s that special to me.

And just like that, The Dangers in My Heart went from “eh probably not for me” to “yeah this is one of the best anime of the decade so far.” It’s a simple slice-of-life romance on paper, almost literally so in the manga, but this is a transformative adaptation. There’s much more of the story to tell, and I wouldn’t complain about more, but as it stands after two seasons, The Dangers in My Heart is damn near perfect as it is.

3. Oshi no Ko, season 2

Another year, another season, another top-four finish for one of the best manga adaptations I’ve ever seen. 

The anime adaptation of Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari’s showbiz-revenge manga made shockwaves last year following its thunderous feature-length premiere, and its source material made even more waves due to some questionable plot developments that fortunately went nowhere. Doga Kobo was undeterred by any negative attention brought to the brand, though, and pressed forward into the next arc with a level of swagger you rarely see brought into an anime’s sequel season.

The 2.5D stage play arc in Oshi no Ko’s manga wasn’t my favorite, but it was one that you could tell just from reading it would translate well to the screen. Even then, I wasn’t prepared for just how hard Doga Kobo would go in adapting it. Character animation is sumptuously fluid, color used to amazing effect, and personal expression bursts forth into impressionistic abstraction to such a degree that it made manga artist Yokoyari cry. Everyone looks and sounds incredible beyond any way I could’ve imagined from reading the manga, which, at the risk of sounding defensive, is still very good as a whole.

This being a story largely about the music industry, the music remains as on-point as ever. It’s too soon to tell if the second season’s OP/ED pairing tops the instantly-iconic “Idol” and “Mephisto” from the first, but these are no slouches. This season’s OP, “Fatale,” is a whiplash-inducing banger by Tatsuya Kitani and idol Kento Nakajima, performing under the collaborative name of GEMN (itself a relevant name to the show; twins without the i/Ai, DO YOU GET IT???) with visuals that might actually top those of Idol. The new ED, “Burning,” is Hitsujibungaku at their fuzzy, 90s-style alt-rock best, and it takes on a brand new meaning by the end of the season. Of course, there’s also the story-relevant music; while the bulk of the season focuses on the stage play, the last few episodes give us a glimpse into the pop music process, with the season capping off with an in-universe music video that, while not sonically my exact cup of tea, features 90 seconds of some of the best-looking dance animation I’ve ever seen in my life. That’s a flex if I’ve ever seen one.

And just like the first season, the second capped off with an announcement that Oshi no Ko will indeed be returning for another season. At this rate, and with the anime’s success, they will adapt the entire work, which will raise some eyebrows. I’m not going to litigate the manga’s later controversial developments nor its widely-panned ending, but if Doga Koba was able to handle everything that came before those things with such aplomb, I have faith that it will at least be done well.

2. DanDaDan

I want to preface this by saying that I agonized over whether this or the final entry is my anime of the year. I’m comfortable with what I chose, but if I’m being realistic, DanDaDan is basically 1b. This is a masterpiece already.

Although the source material was a bit of a cult hit until this year, DanDaDan came with a considerable amount of hype. If you were even peripherally familiar, it wasn’t hard to see why: Yukinobu Tatsu’s art is absurdly detailed in almost every panel, character designs are easily recognizable (one of the leads dressing similarly to a Persona 3 character was fortuitous for the anime to drop in the same year as Reload), and so many bizarre things happen in the plot that relaying them to anybody who wasn’t already familiar would make their brain briefly touch the void. Above all, though, Science SARU was tabbed to animate it, and any project by them is immediately worth your attention.

Sure enough, DanDaDan made an instantaneous splash, its first episode adapting the manga’s bombastic, twisty 63-page opening chapter nearly beat for beat. I’m not gonna “don’t look it up, just go in blind” this one, but almost too much happens for me to properly detail it all without just writing a complete synopsis. It boils down to “lonely nerd boy believes in aliens, angry kogal believes in yokai, it turns out both are real and now they have to deal with it.” It’s silly, it’s wild, it’s action packed, and if you can stomach the sexually-compromising alien abduction of the girl, you’re along for the ride.

I’m not gonna harp too much on that last point. It does stink that the female lead, Momo, is stripped to her underwear for the sake of alien sexual “research,” but said aliens get their comeuppance before anything happens to her. It’s still not great, and it’s not the last time female characters are portrayed in their underwear, but I do promise it’s for story reasons, it takes a backseat to the onscreen action and is pretty clearly not done for the sake of fanservice. I know such things can be beyond the pale for some people, but if you think you can compartmentalize that, I recommend you watch the first episode with that caveat in mind and decide from there. You may be pleasantly surprised.

DanDaDan is effectively two stories at once; on one side, we have Momo and the boy, Okarun (a nickname Momo devised for him to preserve her own sanity), gaining wacky supernatural powers in order to fight back these occult threats and regain what was stolen from Okarun from his first encounter with the unexpected (IYKYK). Because these threats can come out of nowhere, their daily high school lives can completely pop off without warning. On the other side, we have quieter slice-of-life tension as Momo and Okarun get to know (and frequently misunderstand) each other and realize they are completely and hopelessly head-over-heels for one another.

Surprise, motherfucker: DanDaDan is a romcom.

Yukinobu Tatsu, formerly an assistant on the first saga of Chainsaw Man, long struggled to get his own work serialized. At his editor’s urging, he read something like a hundred manga for inspiration, including several shoujo romance series. That research shows through in DanDaDan; although the bonkers action sequences and off-the-wall monster designs are what draw in readers and viewers alike, what’s kept this many people along for the ride is the beating heart just barely under the surface in the form of the romantic tension between Momo and Okarun. It’s easy to write this off as some “lonely nerd gets the cute gyaru just by being a Nice Guy” wish fulfillment, but that’s not really the case here; Okarun was a weird little twerp right from the jump. Similarly to Kyotaro in the aforementioned Dangers in My Heart, Okarun believes early on that he’s nowhere near Momo’s league, completely unaware that she quickly grows to actually like having him around, so he puts in the effort to become a more well-rounded person so that he can be confident enough to be seen next to her. He also just wants Momo to think he’s cool, and she thinks that’s adorable. And she’s right! These two are cute as fuck together.

So you come for the wild action and stay for the tremendous character dynamics. It should go without saying that Science SARU nailed all of the above, but I’m gonna say it anyway. Reading the Manga+ comments on each chapter as I read through the manga, readers were begging a top-flight battle shonen studio like MAPPA or WIT to pick up the series, and I think these fans got more than they bargained for. Masaaki Yuasa hasn’t been in charge of a series at the studio since Eizouken, or anything they’ve put out since Inu-Oh, but his influence is all over their recent works, including last year’s fellow top-three series, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. It’s beyond impressive how, much like Scott Pilgrim, this series manages to maintain the source material’s art style while still looking very much like a Science SARU anime. Everyone is bouncy and malleable as their moods dictate, line weights are wildly varied, and action animation is kinetic and unpredictable. Each fight with an alien or cryptid is awash in eye-searing color or eerie greyscale. The music is a boatload of fun as well; even putting aside the Creepy Nuts OP (banger after banger after banger from those dudes) and Zutomayo ED, regular proceedings are punctuated by a wildly varied score, from funk to folk to an insane chase scene set to an electronic mashup of the “William Tell Overture” and the can-can. Everything about DanDaDan keeps you guessing.

I was looking forward to DanDaDan enough that I went to the theatrical premiere of the first three episodes and was sufficiently blown away. If you’ve seen the show, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that it looks and sounds incredible in a cinema setting. I left the theater positively buzzing, telling anyone who’d listen that they had no idea what was coming, but even knowing the entire story, I wasn’t prepared for more of what was to come. The literal next episode after what I’d already seen in the theater had one of the most bonkers action setpieces I’ve seen since Gurren Lagann, and just four episodes later an unbelievable emotional gut punch, prior knowledge of the manga be damned. Every single aspect of DanDaDan as an anime was given the same level of love and care that Tatsu put into his own work. It’s one thing for an anime adaptation to be faithful to its source material, and another entirely for it to elevate and transform it. DanDaDan is somehow both.

If there’s anything that held this back from being the anime of the year, it’s that this season kind of just… ends. With the 12-episode runtime that was given to the debut season, DanDaDan ends its first run right after the beginning of the manga’s next arc, which feels bizarre. There’s no resolution, but there’s no real cliffhanger here either. Which I kind of get, the story is driven by a constant forward momentum, but a little warning that the season was ending would’ve been nice. It’s only a six month break until the show comes back, but judged on its own, the way this season ended left me feeling a bit cold and the season itself feeling incomplete. Even shows that have year-long breaks between cours rather than seasons tend to put some kind of cap on each individual run, but DanDaDan just kinda left the toilet unflushed, and next to it a Post-It note promising to come back later. For something this lovingly crafted, that seems like a bizarre oversight.

That was hardly enough to temper my enjoyment though. Anything this well-made is deserving of the attention and success it’s attained, but to have this story, with these characters and this level of bonkers action made this well, is just an embarrassment of riches. And God help me, I’m shamelessly greedy. July can’t come fast enough. I need all of it.

1. Delicious in Dungeon

At the end of its run midway through the year, I declared Dungeon Meshi the best anime of the year up to that point and that I’d be impressed if anything would manage to overtake it. Though the other two entries in my top three made extremely strong cases, nothing else quite hit the spot and nourished the soul quite like Dungeon Meshi.

Barely a year removed from one of 2022’s best anime, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, Studio Trigger kicked off 2024 with another Netflix original, this time with its first proper manga adaptation since the studio split from Gainax a decade prior. It seemed an odd fit at first to have a studio known for wacky, hyperkinetic action productions like Kill la Kill and Promare to adapt this quirky fantasy dungeon manga, but hey, they also did Little Witch Academia. It turned out to be an odd fit, but in the best way: Dungeon Meshi is pretty offbeat as it is, so for it to get picked up by one of the more oddball prestige studios ended up making a tasty stew.

I struggled to elaborate on what makes this show so good after each of its cours, and six months later I remain a little lost for words. It’s an exceptional story adapted exceptionally well. Between the characters, the story, the setting, the emotional stakes, the comedy, the highs and lows, they nailed it all. Trigger just gets it. Even when characters go off-model for the sake of an intentional animation quirk, it still has that inimitable Trigger charm to it. It sounds just as good as it looks, too: The orchestral score highlights the quieter, sillier moments just as well as the tenser action setpieces, the foley work behind the dungeon’s bizarre and varied flora and fauna is immaculate, and the cast is perfect in both Japanese and English (I rarely ever say so but seriously, shout out to the dub).

I’m just as sick of saying “this show speaks for itself” when I have trouble finding the words as you probably are of reading it, but I have little else to add here. I’ve written plenty already. Just go watch it. This is already one of my favorite manga ever, and by the time the series wraps up at the end of its second season, it will easily end up as one of my favorite anime ever.

[ratsoh-writes]

Swine (farmswapfell sans): Swine is a confident and outspoken monster with a rather troubling tendency to pick fights or stir the pot. He’s known to be rather shameless, attempts to fluster or guilt him rarely work. Swine is a clever monster, easily picking up new skills, and because of this he looks down on those who are less flexible. While he struggles with empathy, he’s deeply loyal to those thick skinned enough to stick around. He’s a true ride or die friend. He adores animals of all types

Swine is a pig farmer in goldenvalley. He raises and sells standard hogs for meat, and occasionally uses his pigs to get rid of unsavory goods for others ;)

Possum (farmswapfell papyrus): Possum is at first glance sleepy and absent minded looking. In reality he’s a sharp observant little sneak. Possum has found over the years how to stay silent and blend into the background to avoid suspicion. He’s gotten very good at being overlooked. He’s rather stiff and simple worded around those he doesn’t trust, but with loved ones he’s sarcastic, a bit pushy, and has a small mischievous side.

Possum officially, is swine's farmhand. unofficially, he helps out a smuggling ring in steeler. He takes contraband from other countries at steeler city, and brings them back to sell and distribute in goldenvalley

Slugger (mafiahorror sans): Slugger is a blunt and temperamental monster. She dislikes those who hide their emotions or lie and claims a world where everyone is just straight forward all the time would be perfect. An old skull injury has left her with a blown out eyelight, blurred vision on one side, and frequent migraines. This leaves her easily irritated. Thankfully modern ebott medicine has helped a bit. She’s insecure about her looks, and hates it when anyone points them out. She’s a playful monster around those she’s comfortable with and can be quite goofy if encouraged

Slugger works in Goldenvalley for a butcher. She’s in the back cutting up the meat when orders come in or picking up and preparing the animals her boss buys. The job is very similar to the duties she used to do at the meat packing factory in her old au

Steel (mafiahorror papyrus): Steel is soft spoken and rather shy although he seems to hide it well. He’s a very forgiving and patient monster. He can tolerate a crazy amount of disrespect before finally snapping back. Despite his seemingly gentle nature, when pushed enough he’s very cutthroat, to the point where even his headstrong older sister steers clear when steel is in a bad mood. Steel has a very strong sense of morals and avoids crossing them at all costs. He’s a firm believer that methods are more important than intentions

Steel is a cashier at mellowmart at the moment as he does online classes. He hopes to be a meteorologist someday

Dice (mafiaswapfell sans): Dice is a rather withdrawn and private monster. While not shy specifically, he doesn’t enjoy introductions and is happy to skirt by on the background unless called on or needed. He has a sort of elegance to him that makes others naturally turn to him for help. Luckily this works out for dice when it comes to loved ones. He’s a very protective and nurturing character. He hates feeling useless and uses caring for others as a way to make himself feel grounded.

Dice previously worked as a clerk for a rather wealthy human family in his old au. He’s a genius with numbers and seemed to just guess really well what others had hiding before important meetings. After the crash, the family he worked for was left behind. Using his skills learned, dice wound up opening a small posh casino to make ends meet in ebott.

Gamble (mafiaswapfell papyrus): Gamble is a warm and goofy character. He’s a touch naive being sheltered by his brother and parents, so does sometimes have anxiety around taking risks. However he does his best not to stop from living his best life! He has a lot of passion for the little joys in life and is easily impressed. There’s not a single mean bone in his body

Before the crash, dice got gamble a job as a coffee boy for the same family. Nowadays he works at his brothers casino as a server handing out food and drinks. When he isn't working, he's also a doting father to his son Basker and a loving husband to his mate Cambridge

I’m looking at some of my old posts and have realized that a lot of the character descriptions aren’t very accurate with how I write the characters now. So I’ll be be redoing each skeledudes general personality description (and job description) and reblogging this post each day until I have all of them ;)

Sans: He’s our typical lazy and punny guy! Sans is a real people’s man and has friends and connections all over. Despite finding across as a charismatic extrovert, he’s actually very introverted and enjoys his friends in controlled doses. Sans is a playful prankster at heart. His favorite reactions from his victims is the face of blank confusion as they witness his quiet little acts of chaos. Sans is a very guarded monster who doesn’t typically show a lot of emotion beyond surface level. It takes a long time to earn enough trust for him to open up. A long long time. Sans is also a scholar at heart. The only time you’ll ever see him truly work is when something is interesting enough for him to feel passionate about

His job is a nuclear engineer! Sans is researching ways to combine nuclear energy with magic to make safer and cleaner energy sources

Papyrus: he’s the true definition of an optimist. Papyrus can always see the best in any person or situation. Because of this, people may think that he’s naive. He isn’t, he just stays strong to his ideals and is stubborn enough to ignore any criticism. Papyrus lives for seeing his friends and family succeed. In fact, he’s at his happiest when he makes others happy. This makes him the ultimate cheerleader friend. Pair that with a very empathetic and observant personality, and you have a guy who can get along with almost anyone. However, his passion is also his greatest flaw. When papyrus gets really into something, he sometimes doesn’t see the risks involved and will continue on to that goal regardless. He’s impulsive

For his job, he owns an escape room! It’s actually several different rooms: a large main room, four smaller surrounding ones, the lobby, and a medium room for parties. The puzzles and themes of the rooms change every other month

Star (underswap sans): he’s an adorable positive energy ball of PURE EVIL. Ok ok, not true evil of course, but Star is a manipulative little imp. He goes by the rule of: “if you won’t treat me like an adult, then I’m going to take advantage of it.” He’s definitely not above using his looks to get what he wants. With his friends, Star is easygoing and playful. He loves to tease and flirt and prefers friends who can keep up with him. He’s also a bit of a scatterbrain and has a bad habit of taking on more than he can chew. Star is a wonderful motivator but has issues with being too pushy if he feels like his friend isn’t progressing fast enough.

His job is in the police force as a detective and SAR (search and rescue). His main priority is finding missing persons and taking out human trafficking rinks

Honey (underswap papyrus): honey is a total sweetheart. He can be pretty shy and anxious when you first meet him, but if you’re nice, he’s quick to latch on and adopt you into his friend group. When he’s comfortable, he’s a very chill and playful guy. He has a raging motherly streak and doesn’t realize sometimes that he’s nagging. Honey is a romantic at heart and just wants someone he can be sappy with. He does get very clingy since he assumes that most people are only around him because of Star. Don’t mess with his kitchen. He’s a total nerd and will happily fixate on almost any fandom with his friends

His job is an online translator. He mostly does written legal documents but also sometimes acts at the translator for zoom meetings. Honey prefers to work from home

[machveil]

follow up from this post about Kyle and his aunts and uncles

Kyle who’s thrilled when you meet his parents, of course, but is absolutely buzzing at the thought of you meeting his aunts and uncles. as much as he wants his parents to love you, he really wants his aunts and uncles absolutely smitten with you. why? he loves spending time with them while he’s on leave, they’re his favorite relatives. he desperately wants to invite you to their small dinner parties and game nights - nothing high pressure, a good mix of both cocktails and mocktails depending on what you want. a comfortable atmosphere where you can relax by his side

Kyle who knows you’ll be treated like royalty by his family. he’s the golden child, he’ll deny it til the day he dies, but he does get a little spoiled compared to everyone else. you being his significant other? guilty by association, you’re going to be smothered with love. Kyle can’t wait for the day his aunts gush over you, the way he knows his uncles will crack silly jokes to make you feel comfortable. he can’t wait for them to learn about what you love, because you’re already part of the family and they’d want you to feel loved - be it little gifts they picked up because they thought of you or wanting you to join them for an event, Kyle knows his aunts and uncles will adore you

Kyle who gets you in on the family gossip before meeting them. he’s giving you a mini run down on all his relatives, means well and it’s all in good natured fun. of course, this backfires on Kyle when his aunts start spilling his embarrassing childhood stories to you, “Hey— hey, auntie, that’s not really what happened!”. god, he’s happy they don’t have his photo album. Seeing you smile and laugh over the stories makes his heart beat a little faster, a dopey smile plastered on his face. yeah, he can live with you hearing about him being a little menace if it means you’re enjoying yourself, “Did I tell you my uncle over there almost set our kitchen on fire?”, Kyle will just tell embarrassing stories about his family in retaliation

[thetempleofthemasaigoddess]

The Kestrel and the monkey

Shanks x reader

*****

Sabu is worried about (name). 

He can’t tell her, clearly, nor, he is ashamed to admit, can do much to improve her mood, apart from sitting on her lap to let her cuddle him, remain completely still as she brushes him -an activity she seems to find soothing, since Sabu can hear her sing softly to herself as she does it- and play with the little doll she has personally sewn for him - a present he appreciated, even though he has started losing interest in the toy he’s had it for a full year, even though (name) still smiles proudly to herself every time she she sees it play with it.

Sabu loves (name) more than anything else in the world, and there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to make her happy, even tolerating how she sometimes pulls his hair when the brush’s teeth find a knot or keeping her company while she works in the fields outside the village -not the only job she could have gotten, but she likes it better than being a salesperson at the local bakery- even if it means spending the morning under a sweltering sun.

He’d endure those troubles every day, all day, sleep on the floor rather than on an expressly-reserved corner of (name)’s bed and eat nothing but snails and lizards -yuck!- rather than the treats she buys for him; unfortunately, despite his motivation and desire to make her smile again, there’s little he can do to help.

Apart from him, Sabu doubts someone else has noticed (name)’s discomfort, since he spends far more time with her than anyone else and (name) is usually good at hiding it when she’s worried or unhappy. It’s something she has done since she was small, almost as small as him, in part because she didn’t want her parents to worry and in part out of pride, because she didn’t want to admit something or someone had upset her. After all she’s a well-known pirate, the second most fearsome combatant of her old crew, with a more than respectable bounty on her head, and even now that her life has radically changed, (name) feels she has a reputation to uphold.

Even three years ago, when her old captain died, as the whole crew cried desperately as they observed the small dinghy with his body depart from the ship, (name) didn’t shed a tear. Even Sabu himself cried, already missing the brave, jovial man who had liked scratching his chin and never complained even though there was something in his fur that made the captain sneeze endlessly, but (name) didn’t, in her role as first mate focused on the flame-tipped arrow she had just notched onto her bow, ready to set the dinghy aflame. 

She had loved the captain, who had been like a second father for her for more than a decade, more than anyone else in the world, and she considered most of the crewmates trusted and dear friends, but she didn’t dare to cry in their presence. Only later, on what turned out to be their last night on the ship before the crew disbanded and each pirate who had proudly belonged to the crew of Balthazar “The Sea-Lion” Dustin went their separate way, she allowed herself to mourn, her night spent softly weeping into her pillow while Sabu clutched to her side and did his best to comfort her. The sea, a place none of his kind had ever frequented before but which he had quickly gotten used to, had never felt so cold, so lonely and forbidding, like that night. 

They spent months wandering, moving from town to town, taking work where they -well, she; but Sabu accompanied (name) wherever she went, keeping her company and bringing her a water bottle or an handkerchief when she was thirsty or sweaty and making himself useful as much as he could, which meant he did his part, didn’t he?- could find, to keep herself occupied as much as to earn her living, and (name) seemed, if not sad, like a helpless ship in the middle of a stormy sea - directionless, no longer in control of her own life, lonely but unable or unwilling to find people or things to make her existence worthy of being lived. 

Arriving in Foosha felt like a blessing from above -this is something (name) says when something particularly fortunate happens; Sabu has never really understood what it means. Who, or what, is above? Does the blessing come from the clouds, or the sky?- for both of them. The village is similar to many others they have seen before, but it is quiet, peaceful, the people kind and friendly, and there is plenty of work for a woman willingly to toil in the fields or spend her evenings washing the dishes behind the Partys counter. Since their arrival, (name) has learnt to smile again; she has met new friends, found a way to make herself useful, and come to consider Foosha her new home.

Sabu was happy (name) had found some sort of serenity in her new life, but he knew it wouldn’t last, and it hasn’t. (name) is a woman of action, a pirate who has spent more than half of her life at sea, among treasures to find, enemies to vanquish, and adventures to live; she’s experienced enough to lead her own crew, and there is more than a Marine officer who rues the day their paths crossed. Sabu has lived those adventures with her, clutching to (name)’s back as she ran pursuing the pirates who had kidnapped one of her friends or taking advantage of his diminutive size to steal a cell key from the sleeping warden’s belt; it was a good life, a life (name) loved and felt hers. How could she feel happiness, or even just contentment, in a tiny, peaceful place like Foosha, where nothing new ever happens and one can walk from one side of the village to the other in less than ten minutes?

“It’s not that I don’t like this place anymore, you understand?” (name) tells him one night as they enjoy the evening’s cool air sitting on the porch of their home on the outskirts of the village -which is barely larger than her old cabin on the ship; fortunately Sabu at least takes up very little space!- she sitting on a chair and him on her lap, his tail wrapped around (name)’s leg as he allows her to use the hand free from her tea cup to scratch his head “It’s a lovely place, and I feel I could be content remaining here for the rest of my life. It’s just that…”

She finds it boring, Sabu bets against himself.

“... it’s so boring!” she continues “So small, and nothing exciting ever happens… As a pirate I was used to danger and adventure, to wake up to a different dawn every day; in three years I have gotten to know the village and the area surrounding it so well I could walk around blindfolded. I’ll be sorry to leave this place, and the people living in it, but I need a change, to do something different, but what? We have spent months wandering around in search of a new place to call home, and I didn’t enjoy it - at all.” Sabu didn’t either; they often had to sleep on the ground, sharing a single bedroll, snails were the only readily available food and another hungry traveller once tried to kidnap him to roast him on the fire.

“If only there was a way… I’d like to depart already knowing what to do and where to go, not leave for the sake of leaving. Does it make sense?” she asks him, and herself, as she sips her tea, her gaze raised towards the stars, the same that they have admired every night for three years “I know I am still young, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in this tiny corner of the world, or wandering the world searching for I don’t even know what. I feel like I am meant for more than this, or at least for something else, and yet…”

… and yet I don’t know how, or where, to look for it. Sabu knows it without having to hear her say it; he’s sorry for (name), and would like nothing better than to help her, but how? He knows nothing of the world beyond what he has seen with her, and while most people in the village are friendly and treat him well -and why shouldn’t they? He’s adorable!- the language barrier means that he can’t ask for the help of the friends he and (name) have made in Foosha; he is completely helpless. 

While not unhappy, because she is grateful for her life in Foosha and the friendship of its people, (name) grows more and more restless and unsatisfied. She still works hard in the fields, helps Makino at the Partys and carries out whatever task she has been asked to help with, but Sabu can see how frustrated she looks, as if she were thinking about the years spent with her crew and her captain, living her life to the fullest as a pirate, which, she told Sabu once, had been her sole dream since she was six. She sits cross-legged on her bed, or at the little table in the kitchen, tracing with the tip of her fingers the outline of the tattoo on her right forearm - the Sea-Lion’s jolly rogers, that all her crewmates carried on their skin.

In those moments, which can last several minutes, (name) looks more despondent than ever, a sadness that goes beyond tears filling her eyes. Sabu knows there’s nothing he, or anyone else, can do to comfort (name) when she’s deep in her thoughts like that, surrounded by the ghosts of the friends she has lost and the dreams she had to abandon; so he climbs on her lap and embraces her, resting his face against the softness of her chest, and tells her, without the need for words, that she’s not alone and she’ll never be. 

It doesn’t help, not fully, but she understands it, and that’s something.

Days pass; weeks do as well, and finally something happens, something that makes Sabu snap to attention as he sits on Makino’s lap, content to let her pet and scratch him, and (name) serves the tea she has just brewed.

“A pirate ship has arrived at the dock this morning; they call themselves the Red-Haired pirates. Their captain is a man named Shanks. Have you ever met them, (name)?” 

She mumbles something in the negative, looking suddenly uncomfortable in her own home, and in the company of the first friend she’s made in the village. Makino, who maybe has also noticed how melancholic (name) has looked recently, proposes she could meet the pirates and make friends with them, since they seem like nice people and the captain told her they plan on staying a while, but (name) refuses, gently but firmly.

“My relationship with the world of piracy has ended more than three years ago.” she explains “I was a pirate, and proud of it, part of the best crew I could wish for, under the command of a captain Gold Roger himself would have been proud to call friend. I have lost them forever, and I have to accept this; meeting others like them would only serve to make the sense of loss even more vivid inside me. Thank you for telling me, Makino, I know you meant well; but the less I think about pirates and piracy the better I will be.”

Makino accepts (name)’s decision, apologising for having inadvertently upset her, and the two of them move on to talk about something else as they sip their tea; Sabu, on his part, is excited, and full of hope. A crew of pirates, good people, just like (name)’s old friends and beloved captain once were… concepts like destiny, and prayers answered, have no meaning for him, but Sabu immediately understands that this might be the chance he was waiting for. 

Of course, the pirates recently arrived at the village can’t help (name) if they don’t meet her, and she them. On the next day, after a morning spent working in the fields Sabu excitedly waits for (name) to leave for the village as she does almost every day in the afternoon, to enjoy a drink at the Partys and take care of other errands, but she doesn’t. Sabu sees her glance out of the window in the direction of the dock, uncertainty clear on her face, and then sigh, retrieve a book from the small shelf above the mantelpiece, and sit to read. 

She spends the rest of the day like that, and the day after, and the next one as well. She does leave the house, to enjoy a walk in the woods or to visit an older neighbour who might need help after a recent illness, but she seems to have forgotten a small but lively village, inhabited by people who for the most part she can call friends, lies only a short walk away. On the third day, when they realise the pantry is empty and they need to buy some groceries if they want to avoid starving, (name) makes a list of everything they need, gives it to the grandson who came visiting her neighbour together with some money, and asks him to take care of the matter for her, promising he can keep the change as payment.

Sabu doesn’t know what to think; he knows sometimes people are banished from home after they have committed some heinous crime, but (name) has done nothing wrong, not to mention she seems to have decided to exile herself, rather than being ordered to. He’s known her longer than anyone else, so long that he can barely remember a time when the two of them weren’t together, him clinging to her back or side, or riding on her shoulder to look ahead. They’ve always been close, in harmony to the point they could perceive each other’s mood and feelings despite the partial language barrier; now, not only Sabu really can’t understand the reasons for (name)’s decision, but he can see she’s worried, and unhappy, about something, and he has no way of helping her, no matter how dearly he wishes he could. 

Maybe he can find the truth by himself. Sabu spends the majority of his time by (name)’s side, and truth to be told he’s a little anxious about wandering around on his own, even in a place he knows well, but he can find his courage for (name)’s sake. On the next day, he waits for her to be busy working, focused on the movement of the shovel in her hands, and then silently departs. 

Reaching Foosha on his own takes a long time, not to mention his little legs hurt after walking for so long, but in the end Sabu gets to his destination. He enters the Partys hoping Makino will offer him the necessary refreshments, and she immediately does, pouring water in a bowl and peeling an apple as soon as she notices how exhausted he looks. 

“It’s the first time I see you here by yourself, Sabu; is (name) alright?” Makino asks, and fortunately she has come to know him well enough that Sabu is able to reassure her that he hasn’t come asking for help because (name) is sick in bed. He only plans on resting on the counter for a few minutes before starting his investigation around the village, but Sabu’s attention is attracted by a large group of men who have occupied most of the bar’s tables, not to mention what must be a large portion of its beer supply.

They must be the pirates Makino mentioned on her last visit; Sabu has never seen any of them before but he recognises their kind from the years he and (name) spent as part of the Sea-Lion’s crew; strong, rowdy men, the camaraderie among them, the scent of salt and danger their skin exude. Sabu knows (name) wouldn’t want him to approach them, like she always insisted he remained by her side every time their crew met with another unless they were allies or trusted friends, but (name) is not there to chastise him, is she?

So Sabu gets down from the counter, the slice of apple he’s munching in his hand, and approaches the pirates’ table, and as expected -again, he is adorable!- they are immediately interested, and amused, especially when Sabu grabs a tankard of beer from the table and starts drinking from it. The pirates laugh, already captivated.

“Who is this little guy?” a man asks as he approaches the table, probably back from the privy given the way he’s fixing his trousers; he has red hair, brighter than any Sabu has ever seen, and a friendly smile.

“We don’t know, captain; he just approached and started playing with us.”

“Well, wild monkeys are rarely this friendly.” the man judges, and then retrieves some nuts from a nearby plate to give him. As a rule, offering him food is the surest way to become friends with Sabu, and there’s something in the red-haired pirate he can’t help but like. So he’s the captain; Sabu wonders if he’s strong, trusted and respected by his men like the Sea-Lion was. There seem to be no women in his crew, which might be a problem, should it be a deliberate choice rather than a coincidence; some captains, (name) once told him, believe women to be cause of misfortune on ships, and since (name) is undoubtedly a woman, the red-haired man might not want her to join his crew.

That’s just because he hasn’t met her yet, Sabu thinks as he quickly climbs on the man’s shoulder. (name) is not only a powerful pirate; she’s also an experienced sailor, brave, resilient, and loyal, ready to risk her life to help her crewmates. Any captain would be lucky to have her. 

“Makino, do you know this guy?” the pirate asks as he turns towards the counter.

“His name is Sabu, captain; he belongs to a woman who lives here in the village.” she explains as she does the washing up behind the counter; then, with a smile, she clarifies: “Even though she’d say they’re more like two friends who live together than a pet and his owner.”

It’s absolutely true. Sabu also hopes Makino will mention that (name) is a former pirate, which might intrigue the red-haired man and make him decide he wants to meet her, but he has no luck. 

The captain, he soon learns, is named Shanks; (name) has always been all he needed to feel happy and safe, but Sabu had missed the company of pirates, and so he remains with them for the rest of the afternoon, when both his empty stomach and the setting sun out of the bar’s windows inform him it’s almost dinnertime.

“Come to visit us again, alright?” Shanks tells him when he and the others realise Sabu is taking his leave; he can’t answer - at least, not in any way the pirate would understand, but he pulls the pirate’s ear, which is his way to reassure and calm (name) down when she’s agitated. The pirate laughs and says Sabu is the funniest of his kind he’s ever met.

Sabu can say the same.

The grandson on his way to visit (name)’s neighbour gives Sabu a lift on his shoulders on the way back; when he arrives home, he finds (name) beside herself with fear, calling his name as she wanders around the house.

“Where have you been?! I was so worried, I thought something had happened to you!” she cries in relief when she sees him. Sabu is sorry to have worried her, especially when he realises her eyes have filled with tears; after all it’s the first time in the many years they have spent together that he had wandered farther away from her than the length of a ship’s bridge, he should have known that she’d wonder where he was and get upset!

He tries asking for her forgiveness in the usual ways -gentle bites on her fingers, an apple taken from the pantry and brought to her so that they can eat it together- but (name) remains in a bad mood for the rest of the night, at least until, over dinner, she asks him where he has been, and in response Sabu walks to the nearby bedroom to retrieve a headscarf Makino has gifted (name) on her birthday, last year.

“You’ve been at the Partys? Were you hungry?“

No, Sabu explains in gestures.

“Bored, then?”

Yes.

(name) sighs. “I’m sorry.” she murmurs as she takes him in her arms “I know it’s been a long time since we’ve done anything fun; it’s just… well, let’s say there are people in town I’d like to avoid meeting.”

Sabo has no idea who she’s talking about. There’s no one in Foosha she openly dislikes, and he can’t wait to introduce her to his new friends, Shanks and the others; he’s sure that as soon as they meet, the captain will ask her to join his crew, and she’ll be able to return to the sole life she could be happy in. 

“Still, I can’t keep avoiding the village forever, like I’m some kind of hermit or a leper.” (name) reasons, talking to herself as well as to Sabu, like she often does “The captain did use to say one has to face scary things rather than avoiding them, so… tomorrow we are going to say hi to Makino and buy some more groceries, alright? And then we can stop at the bakery and see if they have those little cupcakes we bought last month.”

Sabu approves, both since it means seeing (name) abandoning her self-imposed exile and because those cupcakes are delicious. He can’t wait for her and Shanks to meet!

They leave for the village soon after lunch, and (name) and Makino embrace as if they hadn’t seen each other in years. They talk happily while (name) enjoys her drink, and Sabu eats some nuts, waiting anxiously for the pirates to arrive.

They don’t, unfortunately, at least not until (name) prepares to leave, telling Makino she and Sabu have a few errands to run before returning home; as soon as they are in the open, Sabu sees Shanks and his men approaching down the road, peacefully talking about themselves.

(name) sees them too; a small gasp escapes her lips, and before Sabu can do something to attract the red-haired man’s attention, she had dived behind a nearby cart, hiding them both. 

“Ssh! Stay here, and keep your mouth shut!” she hisses, forced to restrain Sabu and keep him from blowing their cover. 

Peeking through the cart’s wooden planks, they observe the pirates walking past, Shanks leading the others. Sabu can see (name)’s eyes linger on him, but she remains hidden until the Partys door has closed behind them “That was close…”

So it's them she is trying to avoid meeting, not another villager she has had a disagreement with. Sabu reflects on the matter as he accompanies (name) to buy groceries and at the bakery and in the end he comes to believe that she, a woman who has risked her life so many times she has lost count and didn't let anyone, not even the fiercest enemies, intimidate her, is afraid. 

Afraid of being happy again. Of entrusting another crew, and another captain, with her loyalty, her friendship and trust, and having her heart broken again should she lose them. She had been so proud of being part of the Sea-Lion’s crew; and she had told Sabu more than once, as they shared the small space of her bunk, that she wanted that state of things to go on forever: the open sea in front of her, her dearest friend perched on her shoulder, and her captain teaching her to be the best version of herself possible. 

She didn't care about the danger, or the fatigue; she had found the way to live her life that made her the happiest, and she had been happy, while it lasted. The thought of experiencing that joy again, with someone else, must be… scary, in a way; she probably feels guilty just hoping it might happen. Should she actually find a new crew and a new captain to feel at home with, she would probably consider it a betrayal of the memory of the Sea-Lion and his men; and should she not, the disappointment would break her heart. 

(name) misses being a pirate, Sabo knows it well; even if they hadn’t spent so many years together, one only has to notice the fervent look in her eyes when (name)’s gaze falls on the boats moored at the village’s little dock to realise that no matter how pleasant her life in Foosha is, she can’t help wishing for more.

And Sabu wants to give it to her; at least, to give her the opportunity to regain control of her life, and to be happy again. If only he could find a way to make her and the pirates meet…

Over the next weeks Sabu bides his time, waiting for the perfect opportunity. 

(name) has, to his great relief, abandoned her self-imposed exile, going back to frequenting the village as often and freely as she did before, even though Sabu has noticed she takes pain to avoid meeting the pirates; she stays away from the dock, and only visits the Partys in the morning, since Makino has informed her Shanks and his men usually come in the afternoon. It’s obvious that staying away from any member of a thirty-strong crew would be impossible in a village as small as Foosha, but (name) does her best; she hides, turning and pretending to look at something or walking quickly away with her eyes downcast, every time she notices Shanks’ red hair appear ahead, but Sabu can see her stealing a glance once the pirate has passed her by, her eyes lingering on his figure.

Sabu has also started visiting the bar, and the pirates, without (name). The last thing he wants is for her to worry something might have happened to him, so one afternoon she’s busy -not in the fields this time, but helping her older neighbour do the cleaning in her house, since that slacker grandson of mine didn’t show up- he climbs down her shoulder while they’re outside and points insistently in the direction of the village.

(name) seems vaguely surprised, but not disappointed, he wants to go to Foosha by himself. “Alright; just take care of yourself, and come back before sundown.” she recommends, and lets him go.

Those solitary excursions take place every three or four days; Sabu can’t always find someone to give him a lift and walking to Foosha on his own is exhausting, but he soldiers on, aware that he’s doing it for (name)’s sake, and that Shanks always offers him some nuts or another treat every time they meet. The pirates quickly grow fond of him, even carrying him with them around the village or on their ship, which Sabu considers to be as large and powerful as the Sea-Lion’s was. 

“Are you sure it’s alright for you to come here on your own? I don’t want your master -sorry, your friend- to worry that something has happened to you.” Shanks considers one day, sitting at the Partys counter with Sabu -who is sitting on it- near him. 

“Oh, you needn’t worry; she knows.” Makino, as usual busy preparing drinks, informs him “I told her a few days back, and she assured me it’s fine, since Sabu knows his way home.”

The pirate smiles, reassured. “Have I seen this lady here? I’d like to meet her.”

Makino smiles softly; Sabu could bet -well, he couldn’t, since he owns no money, but the principle is the same- she remembers their conversation over tea, and knows (name) is scheduling her visits to the bar, and to the village, specifically to avoid meeting the pirates. “No, I don’t think you’ve ever met her.” she answers innocently; then, after a brief pause: “You would like her, though; she was a pirate as well, once.”

Sabu could cry tears of joy, especially when he notices that last information has caught the attention of the entire crew. “Really?” Shanks asks, openly intrigued “That’s interesting. What ship was she on?”

Makino admits she can’t remember, since (name) rarely talks about her life before her and Sabu’s arrival in Foosha. “She was looking for a place to stay, and found it here. She told me once her crew disbanded after the death of her captain.” 

Shanks smiles softly; Sabu can see melancholy has filled his eyes. “I see.” he murmurs, apparently lost in his own thoughts. Later, as he and his crewmates leave the bar, Sabu tries to invite Shanks to follow him home, so that the pirate can meet (name), but the red-haired man seems not to understand - or maybe he prefers to decline the invitation, whatever the reason might be. 

“You better go now; (name) is probably looking for you.” he says gently, and Sabu can only obey, hurrying towards home, where (name) is waiting for him, exhausted after her day spent working in the fields and assisting her neighbour but satisfied for a job well done.

“I got paid today; next time we go to town we can treat ourselves to something special.” she tells him later as she prepares dinner “What about you? Where have you been?”

Sabu avoids answering; he’s in a bad mood -an uncommon occurrence, given his usually sunny and cheerful attitude- even though he does his best to hide it in order not to worry (name). The more he thinks about it, the more he is sure she and Shanks would immediately hit it off; he would ask her to join his crew, she would accept, and then she would be back where she belongs, at sea, on the bridge of a pirate ship with the wind in her hair. Yes, that’d be amazing… if only they had the chance to meet.

Unfortunately, (name) seems determined to avoid running into the pirates who by now have been in Foosha for a few months, and especially their red-haired captain, even though one day she does shyly asks Makino about him, and on another she reaches the dock to observe their ship, hiding behind an upturned fishing boat. 

“It’s beautiful.” Sabu hears her say admiringly as she observes the imposing vessel with its white sails and dragon figurehead, but when they see a few of the pirates approach she quickly turns to leave carrying Sabu with her, deaf to his protests. 

He has to do something; but what? Since Shanks can’t understand him Sabu has no way to ask him to visit (name) at their home, and (name) seems determined to run in the opposite direction every time she catches a glimpse of red hair under a straw hat, no matter how distant. Sabu is racking his brain searching for a solution, when unexpectedly, the perfect occasion presents itself without him having to do anything to orchestrate it.

(name)’s old neighbour is in relatively good health, but there are a few medicines she needs to take every day. One afternoon, when (name) and Sabu are visiting her to ask whether she needs help with odd jobs or errands -Sabu is quite fond of the old woman, especially since she gifted him a particularly soft pillow on which he likes to nap near the kitchen window, the sun’s rays warming his fur- the neighbour does ask for a favour: her nephew went to the village’s tiny pharmacy for her that morning, but he forgot to take one of the medicines she needs. Could (name) take care of it for her? There’s no rush, since it’s barely early afternoon and the doctor instructed her to take the medicine right before going to bed, but she does need it today, since she took the last of the jar old yesterday. 

(name) is tired after spending most of the day cleaning around the house, not to mention that judging from the dark clouds gathering in the sky it’s going to rain soon, but how could she refuse? “Of course; I’ll go straight away.”

And so they set off, Sabu riding on (name)’s shoulder; rain catches them when they’re halfway to Foosha, and despite the heavy hooded cape (name) has put on by the time they reach their destination they’re both soaking wet. Fortunately the inside of the pharmacy is warm and dry, and (name) gets in line with the other clients.

“Don’t wander away, alright? I don’t want to search for you around the village under this deluge.” she warns Sabo as she gets him down on the floor, and he does his best to look as innocent and obedient as he can. He pretends to looks at the boxes and jars lined on the shelves -most medicines look edible, but he has learnt the hard way they aren’t, since that time he ate a dozen headache pills thinking they were candies and then only (name)’s quick action in calling the ship doctor saved his life- and then, as soon as (name) turns the other way to talk to someone, he scuttles away. 

The Partys is, luckily for him, not far from the pharmacy; it’s the middle of the afternoon and he’s almost sure he’ll find the pirates at their usual table, and they are - save for Shanks, Sabu notices, his heart sinking. A dozen of the men whose names and faces he has learnt to recognise over the last few weeks talk animatedly as they enjoy their drinks, but the captain’s chair is empty. Where is he? Is he busy somewhere else, or simply decided to remain on the ship, whatever the reason? Sabu knows his way to the dock, but the distance would make his plan impossible to implement.

It’s not the end of the world, but Sabu is not sure another occasion like this will ever happen. It’s now or never, but without Shanks there’s nothing he can do; what if the captain hasn’t simply decided to spend the afternoon somewhere else? What if he has left, even if just for a few days, to take care of some errand? The rest of the crew is here and Sabu, who knows more about sailing than any of his kind, doubts even the best pirate can steer a ship by himself, but he might have borrowed a horse, or simply walked to another village…

“Here you are, little one! Are you hungry?”

Relief fills Sabu as he turns and sees Shanks walk to him, a large tankard of beer he must have just taken from the counter in his hands. “Look at you, all wet.” the red-haired pirate murmurs; he places the tankard on the table, and having picked Sabu up he begins rubbing his fur with the end of his cape “On a day like this I’d assumed you would remain at home.”

Due to the rain, Sabu is unpleasantly cold, but his mission takes precedence; he waits until Shanks is distracted in conversation with one of his men, then he quickly climbs on the man’s shoulder, snatches his straw hat, and bolts out of the room.

“Hey, you…!”

Running on his hind legs as his front ones clutch the hat’s hem is not easy, but Shanks’ surprise gives Sabu a few precious seconds advantage, that he uses to cross the street outside the Partys in the direction of what is probably the tallest building in the village, excluding the windmills: the town-hall, that he and (name) visited just once soon after their arrival in Foosha. 

By the time Shanks finds him, Sabu has climbed the red brick wall and is now comfortably perched on the roof, the straw hat safe by his side.

The hat is precious to Shanks; he told Sabu once he had tried playing with it. It’s a gift from a person who is no more, and who I loved very much, the pirate explained. Sabu feels guilty for having stolen his treasure, even though he does intend to give it back; but it’s for Shanks own good, and for (name)’s. 

Because if neither takes the initiative to go meet the other, he will force them.

Soon, Shanks and several of his crewmates, not to mention a few passers-by, have gathered in front of the building, most of them looking up from under their umbrellas. Most people seem amused, but there is growing panic -through not rage- on Shanks’ face as the pirate begs to have his hat returned.

“Sabu, please… give it back, alright? Let’s make a deal; you give me my hat, I’ll buy you nuts! You like nuts, don’t you? And it’s raining! Why don’t you come down, so we can all return inside?”

He even tries climbing the wall himself, but unlike Sabu’s his legs and nails can’t support his weight for the ascent; he remains, helpless, sounding more and more desperate, begging him to return his treasure. Sabu ignores him, but when a seagull comes to perch on the roof near him, and tries pecking on the hat to check its edibleness, Sabu shoos the bird away. 

Finally, someone remembers to have seen (name) at the pharmacy, and goes to get her; a minute later, she is approaching, walking briskly in the direction many fingers point her towards.

“What is happening? Has Saru gotten hurt?” she asks anxiously, and when she finds herself face to face with Shanks she gasps. 

“Hello. You must be (name).” he says, friendly despite the annoyance he must probably feel “I’m sorry to bother you, but your friend has taken something that belongs to me.”

“W-what?”

“Up there. That hat is very precious to me, and he doesn’t want to give it back. Can you please do something?”

Even from the height, Sabu can see the embarrassment colour (name)’s face. “Of course.” she quickly answers, before raising her eyes to meet his “”Sabu! Come down this instant! What in the world are you doing? Return his hat to the captain!”

Sabu does, nimbly climbing down the wall and jumping into (name)’s arms; he sticks the hat on her head, and (name), openly embarrassed, takes it off to offer it to Shanks.

“Thank you so much.”

“Oh, no, please… I’m so sorry for this… I don’t know why he did it, I taught him not to steal…”

Shanks shakes his head as he puts his hat back on. He smiles at (name), who shily reciprocates; she has turned red in the face, no doubt, Sabu thinks, out of embarrassment. “I’m sure he just wanted to play. He’s a very clever little guy.”

“Oh, I know; he can’t speak, but I know he understands every word we say. I’m truly sorry; I should send you to bed without dinner.” (name) adds, lowering her gaze to meet Sabu’s, who grins irreverently in return, well aware that she has never punished him and never will. 

“Oh, no; please, there’s no need to punish him.” Shanks insists “I am Shanks, by the way; they call me Red-hair.” 

“I can see why. I am (name), but this you know already.”

“I do; Makino told me about you.” he smiles “Wait, I think I know you; I saw your wanted poster once. You’re the pirate who stole that classified dossier from a Marine base in the West Blue. You were known as The Kestrel, right?”

The episode happened four years ago; Sabu was the one who stole the key from the base commander’s office, but (name) took care of the half-platoon of Marines who tried to stop her from escaping all on herself. She was pretty proud of her success, almost as proud as she looks now.

“It was me, yes.”

“As I thought; I never forget a pretty face, especially on a wanted poster. And…”

He takes her hand -gently, even though Sabu feels (name) jump at the touch- to turn her arm, exposing the tattoo. “This is the Jolly Roger of Balthazar Dustin.” he readily recognises “The Sea-Lion. You were a member of his crew?”

“Since I was ten, yes; and until he died, three years ago.” 

“I’m sorry for your loss; I know what it feels like.”

“You… lost your captain too?”

“I did; I never met Dustin, but many spoke well of him.”

(name) smiles; hearing the name of her old captain usually makes her sad, but this time is different - Shanks is different, even though Sabu can’t understand why (name) is looking at him as if she had never seen a man before. 

With the emergency over, the crowd has started dispersing; the rain keeps pouring. Neither (name) or Shanks seems to notice.

“You could join my crew if you want.”

“... excuse me?”

“You know, if you missed being at sea; this is a nice place, but after so many years as a pirate I don’t think I could ever feel at ease living on land.” Shanks explains; he smiles, but the conviction in his eyes shows how completely serious he is “I know I can’t replace your old captain; but we’re a good crew, you’d like being one of us.”

(name) bites her lip; she looks vaguely afraid but tempted - hopeful, even, more than Sabu has seen her in the last three years. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know you are a capable pirate; and I like to think I’m a good judge of character.”

“Listen, if you’re simply… trying to sleep with me, I am flattered but…”

“As tempting as it may be, I am not.” Shanks reassures her, which confuses Sabu; why would they want to go to sleep now, in the middle of the afternoon? And there’s no space for another person in (name)’s bed “And of course, your little friend would be welcome as well.”

(name) points out that Sabu knows how to pull his own weight on a ship, as well as around the house; he always has, since eight-year-old her found him in the woods, shivering and scared after he had gotten separated from his family, and brought him back home to nurse him back to health, share her food with him and make him sleep on her pillow. 

“At times I feel he’s a better pirate than I am.” she concludes with a sigh; she’s still smiling. “Let me think about it for a bit, alright?”

“Of course; looks like we’re staying here in Foosha for a while, so you have all the time.”

Shanks grins; even Sabu, who understands nothing about people’s mating affairs, can see the way he is looking at (name), and the way he clearly likes what he sees.

“So… flattered, eh?”

“Oh, shut it…”

They talk for a couple minutes more before setting off towards the bar, walking side by side. Sabu leans towards Shanks and the pirate obligingly scratches his chin. 

“I think he likes me.”

(name) smiles; both she and Sabu know that when one of them grows fond of someone, soon the other does as well. “Do you want to hold him?”

Shanks nods; Sabu accepts the arm the pirate is offering him to comfortably sit down on his shoulder. 

(I personally imagine Sabu as a Panamanian white-faced capuchin monkey, but anyone is free to choose the species they prefer!)

[halitis]

Teen Roy Harper and Oliver Queen shenanigans? I usually just see grown up Roy with Ollie but I crave more of a father - son bond.

ty for sending through the ask! they send me fucking INSANE!!! i love complex parent-child relationships and i think a lot of people see roy’s speedy era with ollie as just. all bad. but it isn’t! ollie is a good dad overall, yes he has had horrible moments and made lots of mistakes but he did work hard to fix his wrongs (n-52 ollie and roy's first re-meeting can go suck my left tit).

(sorry i took so long to respond! these posts actually take quite a while to type out, and get my thoughts down.)

the first time roy got sick while he was with ollie, ollie was stressing. he’s not ready for this! stitches? easy. girl troubles? no problem. but a fever and runny nose? oh god oh fuck. he’s relying on what he’s seen parents do in movies, so he decides to read roy a story! roy is certainly too old for this and also Doesn’t Love reading, but he bears it because it’s kinda funny for a bit. after like third time ollie tries, roy just goes “pls. you don’t have to do this. lets just watch a movie or something.”. now it becomes a tradition that whenever one of them gets sick, the other will just chill and watch movies with them. they don’t need to talk, the quiet company is much better.

roy genuinely looks up to ollie, so much. he admires the man in everyway, roy grows as a person in ollie's presence. roy developed his sense of justice and ethics from ollie (you can see it through how they both prefer to try and change the system over the individual). i think for the longest time, ollie could do no wrong in roys eyes, which is why their relationship fell apart so harshly because roy had unrealistic expectations of the man and ollie wss just... Not being a good father in this moment. it took a while to adjust his self worth to not be based off his perceived value to others.

[continued under read more]

ollie may be a lot of things, but he is Not dumb enough to not give roy the sex talk. is it the best? probably not. but he was VERY serious about having it when roy moved in, because he remembers himself as a teenager and is just like "oh god. oh GOD..." (he likes to think hes not like regina georges mum, but he deffo is.... ur getting old dude :/ sorry to tell you)

(DONT COMMENT ON THE FACT THAT HES WATCHING PORN. IM AWARE. I DONT QUESTION ANYTHING THIS MAN DOES ANYMORE)

when ollie first starts going out with someone, roy goes and gives ollie the exact same talk. in front of his date. ollie is just like "ahaha.... kids right?" roy has to spend the night at hal's house hiding out from him. (not out of any serious fear of repercussion, more playful).

i know the stereotype is that ollie's always getting into fights over politics, but it is actually so incredibly both of them. these two only increase in energy and passion when with each other. catch ollie going "YEAH THATS MY BOY!" when roy is chewing the fuck out of someone.

to me? they are both so autistic... idc no one can convince me otherwise. ollie doesn't realise till he hits his late teens, and even then hes in denial about it. he comes to terms with it a bit better after the island, so when he starts to recognise the same things in roy? he is quick to give that boy all the support he needs. he refuses to even let anyone talk shit or about it near roy, because he is so petrified of the the same internalised ableism he had manifesting in roy too.

ollie gets a small tattoo for roy, nothing big. probably just a little one on his back or ankle or something. he didn't even really plan to do it? it just happened. he sends roy a pic after its done and roy is just. emotionally wrecked.... he does not know what to say.... how does he even express what this means to him? its a permanent commitment to him. (he ends up just messaging back "looks ugly :/", ollie can read between the lines well enough to know what he means).

the first near death experience roy has with ollie he gets Fucked Up over it... he's already lost 2 other father figures, he can't lose another. he doesn't say anything about it, but hes attatched to the hip for ollie for at least 2 weeks... ollie didnt even realise why till he mentioned it off handedly to diana and shes like.... thats a child. hes scared. Fix It. they still dont talk about it, but ollie stops getting snappy at roy for following him around.

okay i have more to say, but im actively about to get in the car so i gotta go!!! anyone feel free to send another ask if they want me to finish up laterz!

aND FOR U ANON... WHO WAITED 50 YEARS FOR ME TO FINISH THIS.....

I <3 U

[crooked-wasteland]

This Anon makes a point that fascinates me.

I know we all know the Fandom runs on emotional inertia. They really think we just feel a certain way about the show and so when we argue how Stolas abuses Blitz, but then how Stolas also abandons his daughter, they are legitimately confused.

How can we criticize both of those when they seem at odds with each other? They genuinely do not understand that our issue isn't in these choices, but the lack of weight and validation they have in the story. I have always loved the idea of Stolas having emotionally abandoned Octavia since Loo Loo Land due to only seeing her as a small child. This characterizes Stolas as not having been around to be a parent to her for a while. Specifically since she started puberty.

And that is great.

But the whole arc in Loo Loo Land was about bridging that divide and Stolas committing to being more involved in his daughter's life, even as he burns it to the ground. It's his shame incentivizing the relationship with his daughter to become rekindled, and that's excellent. I love the way the episode set this up.

So when Stolas proceeds to keep neglecting his daughter in Seeing Stars, it recontextualizes the message of Loo Loo Land. Stolas said he would be there more, and in fact he is still an absent father. So to have Seeing Stars end with Loona telling Octavia that she should be more forgiving, it makes Stolas, and Loona, a terrible person.

Which to clarify is not a problem.

Which means if that scene had a modicum of self awareness, Loona looking at that lighter shouldn't have been her saying how hard "Dads try" but rather realizing she is terrible to Blitz the same way Stolas is to Via and if she keeps treating him badly, he will abandon her the same way Via ran away from home.

What is the problem is this:

While we are supposed to see Loona as "connecting" through sharing her own feelings about her father, really she is the Stolas of her dynamic with Blitz. She is equally emotionally abusive to Blitz as Stolas is to Via. Not in the same ways, but to the same extent.

This isn't about emotions. We aren't hung up on characters because we think Medrano has it out for them or doesn't like them. We want these characters to be potentially unlikeable. But the story never takes into account the larger implications for how these actions, all actions, have consequences.

Except she kicks him between the legs when he apologizes for doing nothing wrong.

In the same way, the show does not identify stolas as being the problem. And because the show doesn't recognize that how he's behaving is harmful. He has no way of actually growing past that. It's okay that he's terrible but the show needs to know he's terrible.

This is why I keep stressing the importance of world building. Any show that doesn't have any world building, like Hazbin and Helluva, will be terrible. No matter how much talent or effort or good ideas go into them. Emotions are not good enough to love or hate anything. Emotions are fickle, fleeting and highly changeable by context. You can't survive on something so unstable. And the longer you try and manipulate people's emotions, the weaker the effect you have. You need to ground on something firmer than how the characters feel.

You can't build a house on sand, and they are trying to build a city.

Stolas saving Blitzø isn’t the problem, for me it’s Stolas’ lack of moral dilemma and hesitation. Helluva Boss loves slapping the audience in the face of how Stolas loves his daughter/how she means the world to him, show official painted images of Stolas taking care of Octavia, etc. But Stolas for the most part doesn’t show it with his actions onscreen.

Immediately once Stolas found out that Blitzø was going to be executed, he immediately rushes to his rescue. In this moment, he doesn’t think about Octavia. It’s only after Stolas gets stripped of his powers that he now thinks about Octavia.

I know it wouldn’t change Stolas and Octavia’s overall fight but at least it would illustrate that Stolas does cares about his daughter and that she isn’t an afterthought or a meat shield to use against Stella for an argument.

[jewelulu]

JEWOYD FANKIDS INTRO!!

AKA the biggest headaches anyone has ever met~ (more under the cut)

Roxanne Leech

Likes: music, dancing, astrology, breaking rules, takoyaki

Dislikes: cold weather, normality, strict rules

Roxanne is the quiet one of the twins, her responses often quick and blunt and a personality so cold most people want to avoid her. However wherever she goes trouble follows aright after her. Her aggressive and rebellious personality always come out either when she’s performing or when she’s caught up with her brother. Much like her parents she’s not one to back down in a fight, getting her self caught in them now and then and even more so when her brother is involved. Although she’s good in academics she’s not fond of school as much, getting into trouble often for slacking off, coming in late or simply not showing up (like father like daughter) but does show a great talent for potions and anything magic related.

Doesn’t know how she got assigned to Pomifore but keeps trying to switch out but the continue to deny her request.

Random fact: has trespassed into several abandoned buildings to perform concerts and got arrested just once because of it.

Jun Leech

Likes: sports, winning, basketball, rocks, strawberries

Dislikes: losing, spicy food, being benched

Jun is the more extroverted and loud of the twins, he’s easier to approach and has an overall friendly personality, that is when he’s not competing. He becomes a completely different person when competing, he’s focused , cocky, arrogant and aggressive and his explosive shine through when he gets in the zone. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to win even even if it means getting into several spats with his own teammates or even physical fights with other teams, which always earn him a well earned spot on the bench. Still he’s able to dominate almost any sport he puts his mind to, his speed and agility shine through and is probably what keeps him on the team. Despite his laid back attitude, he’s actually incredibly smart. Being able to be resourceful and adapt quickly to whatever is thrown at him, he may not look like it but he also spends a lot of his time studying, and has a secret love for rocks, one that his parents don’t know where it stemmed from but he enjoys collecting them.

Random Fact: is good at picking locks, and knows how to forge almost anyone’s handwriting and uses that to pull pranks on people.

Tsuki Leech

Likes: sea creatures, climbing, swimming, scary or haunted artifacts, pranks

Dislikes: having her hat grabbed, slow readers,

Tsuki is the perfect combination of chaotic and clam. Her quiet and calm appearance is what makes her even more dangerous to those who don’t know her. She has a knack for causing chaos around her whether it’s pulling pranks on unsuspecting kids in her school or finding ways to scam her brother into giving her money, she has a trill for causing trouble around her and is very outspoken. Shes very extroverted and likes to talk up a storm about her interests, her older sister, or oddly specific facts she reads about. She doesn’t have much enthusiasm for competing in sports and finds it stupid, but she enjoys swimming either in her eel form or human form and it’s one of her favorite pass time. Dancing is another close second, picking it up after seeing her mother and sister dance. Shes grown to have a tendency to climb things as well, and somehow always finds a way to climb anything. Despite her sweet and innocent face she’s nothing but sarcastic , witty and aggressive, always quick with an insult, unlike her siblings she isn’t much of a fighter nor really caring for it, but she has fought other kids when it comes to having her hat or purse stolen.

Random fact: can make up the perfect sob story or lie on the spot, her acting is concerningly convincing.

~ More Leech Siblings Fun Facts ~

Both Roxanne and Jun are identical however the only thing that differentiates them are their heights, eye color placement and the fact that Roxanne has face piercings.

Both the twins have at least once pushed someone full force down a flight of stairs

All three siblings have sharp teeth just like their dad

Jun has a habit of impersonating his sister simply to annoy her and see how far he can get away with it

Roxanne broke Jun’s skateboard over his head once after catching him impersonating her

Roxanne’s band music is close to that of Nana (yes the anime lol) , Ado and that one Crime and Punishment song~

Tsuki’s personality is partially inspired by Louise Belcher :P

Jun hid in the dryer as a kid once and Roxanne turned it on

And because I couldn’t help myself, I also give you guys what their rooms look like hehe

Taglist: @skriblee-ksk @taruruchi @scint1llat3 @thehollowwriter @offorestsongs @jadelover69

[batcavescolony]

Katniss is such an unreliable narrator. She says "Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me" girl you deliver strawberries to the Mayor, you hunt and trade for the district, when you fell at Prim being chosen someone caught you, when you went to Prim people parted for you, when you volunteered EVERYONE stopped. Idk how to tell you but I think you're a pillar of the community.

[waitineedaname]

I so desperately wanna know what lee sookyung and persephone's relationship is like. they share a son, I have GOT to know how lsk feels about that. is there grief that her son allowed himself to be adopted by another set of parents, when he struggles to connect with her? is she relieved that he has someone at all? does she try to tell persephone stories about his childhood, only to find there's only a small pool of stories she can tell, the rest of them colored by suffering and her absence? did they mourn him together?

[punchspeedchunk]

Next in line is Shmim:

Shmim (Real name Mimbinibi) is a quarter Bugbear on his mother's side, but his clan lives in the higher reaches of the Chaos Mountains. As such, they're already a hairier bunch than most other Goblins, but the Bugbear grandparent means Shmim is EXTRA fuzzy.

Shmim was born and raised in Bastion to first generation immigrants, and as such ended up visiting family in the mountains a lot. Not a big fan of how noisy and cramped the city is, Shmim spent all their school holiday time with his grandparents in the mountains, finding a love of the traditional music, instruments, and songs of his people.

more under cut:

Shmim is primarily a Bard, but had to take a few levels in Artificer in order to help create new instruments. He is INTENSELY interested in experimental music and sound, having mastered classical styles, and finding he wanted to delve into what he could really do to push the boundaries of what music IS.

He identifies as He/They, and his name is actually a family nickname from his parents. Often his real name would be shortened to 'Mim', and he would make so much noise at home that multiple times a day his parents would be going 'Shhhh Mim!', which ended up just being 'Shmim!'

Needless to say, not only did he not Shhh, but his chosen go-to instrument (Of his absolutely VAST and ever-growing collection) is a Griffin Head Carnyx horn (traditional to his clan) that he has managed to slap an electric amplifier onto, making it an absolutely DEVESTATING sonic weapon in battle. He also added the rings for extra jingly sounds because to him, more sound is good sound. It also does pretty good Bludgeon damage.

Shmim also DJ's on the side for money, which almost always goes straight towards acquiring either a new instruments, or parts to create one.

He doesn't have any tattoos, since the fur makes them too difficult to see, and while he's got an eyebrow piercing, he will not get any in his ears because he's worried it will affect his ability to hear clearly, or at the very least make his headphones uncomfortable to wear.

He likes to throw on as many traditional clan clothes as he can in the winter, but come summer time when he's not in the mountains, he wears as little as he can get away with, including mesh crop tank tops and booty shorts. He tried shaving in summer only once, and got so aggravated by the all-over feel of the full-body crew cut that he vowed never to do it again. It was over-stim hell.

Shmim is the heaviest of the Gob-Squad, even though Dex beats him out height-wise by an inch. He could be a strong as Leena if he wanted to, but he only really utilises his power build for lifting heavy instruments, and is not a huge fan of exercise for exercise's sake. He's much happier to just chill with Dex, a sound deck, and some decent Gorgunfern.

So, This guy is the product of @dullgecko and I throwing around fucking Fantasy High College AU shit.

This guy was a nothingburger background goblin who accidentally grew a personality and then before we knew it, we had a fully fleshed out character on our hands.

So this is Dex, he goes to Riz's university and is the Goblin Riz becomes most friendly with (Out of the like... 6 or 7 that go there in various different classes). More details under the cut for those who want them:

This guy hails from the Mountains of Chaos, from a Goblin clan known as being cave divers/fishers, but he spent a fair amount of his schooling at a coastal town of Solace.

He's pretty gangly for a Goblin, his family is fairly sure they have a fair bit of hobgoblin blood, but no clear idea how far back. They're all pretty chill, they have to be to dive caves safely, and the amount of time they have been doing it means that he has inherited traits like retractable partial webbing in his hands and feet, and a flattened paddle shape to his tail tuft. He also has long, dextrous fingers and toes, and double fangs for cracking through crustacean shells and tough fish scales.

Primarily a Druid, he got into a few levels of Barbarian in high school when it became apparent he had a chill limit, and when pushed past it, his frenzies were pretty incredible. He uses his longboard (Dwarvish made) as a bludgeoning weapon. He can also wild-shape and likes to do water creatures the most, so occasionally if he's been drinking you might see a starfish riding around on a longboard on campus.

He also frosts his tips with a bioluminescent algae he cultivates from home, and will give anyone who asks a stick-and-poke tattoo. He knows most Goblin clan's traditional tats, as well as many Orcish and Genasi designs. He speaks Common, Goblin, Orcish and is conversational in Genasi.

His personality for the most part is extremely chill. He walks everywhere barefoot, and will poke holes in shoes if he's forced to wear them so that his toes and the balls of his feet can still touch the ground. Doesn't think much of hierarchies, considers everyone equal and doesn't really gel with authority figures trying to assert control.

Community is very important to him, he is the social glue in any given situation and is extremely good at de-escalation. Either by talking people down, or beating the aggressor into submission when absolutely necessary.

If he wasn't training into adventuring, he would probably be either a surf/skate/diving instructor, or a psychologist (or just both). As it is, he likes to get out in the world and meet new people, very much a wanderer, just in it for the journey and the people. He doesn't have a specific party, he likes to hop parties to experience new dynamics and people.

He might settle down if he finds a group he super jives with, but for now he's interested in advancing his skills (and getting Riz to fucking relax like holy shit this is the most wound up wired guy he's ever met... but to be fair the hyper-competence is legit, and he is forever offering Riz some of his best gorgonfern to smooth his edges).

[askblueandviolet]

Macaca and the Mayor, what's it like to be parents?

Bai Hae, how does it feel to have two more dads?

Do your parents even know that one of your babysitters is the mayor?

[mischiefbuckley]

For this season being marketed like Eddie’s season again with Ryan doing so much press heading into the beginning of season 8… like where are all my Eddie scenes ABC??? Season 8b please deliver on more Eddie scenes and more focus on Eddie’s storyline please 🙏🏻