#like its not that i ever really did those. i would do a couple battles before wiping out bc my pokemon arent competitively trained lmao

[claitea]

still thinking about anthea and lacey btw. getting first-hand coaching from one of blueberry academy's finest, probably getting in touch with the rest of the bb crew through lacey. in addition her brother is a champion-tier trainer, who in turn is friends with More champion-tier trainers who could also help her train

i'm imagining her starting a journey at some point and absolutely DEMOLISHING anything in her way. just blitzing through the entire gym challenge bc the early gym leaders didnt account for the fact she's maybe gotten Overprepared. she should take the champion title she deserves it i think

[fabled-fiction]

✦ My Golden Guardian ✦

( Robert "Bob" Reynolds x Reader )

Summary: Bob has his first solo mission coming up. Leaving the whole team to wonder who is going to volunteer to join him to make sure things go smoothly. You’re avoiding the responsibility because you’re barely able to stay in the same room as him without short circuiting…but when Alexei figures out you have a crush on him he volunteers you to go on the mission with him…what could possibly go wrong.

Word Count: 6.5k

Warnings: UHHHH maybe spoilers for Thunderbolts* (it's set after though so not really). Description of gunshot wound - blood and blood loss. Use of (Y/N).

A/N: I'M A LITTLE RUSTY. But Thunderbolts* has slingshot me back to the Avengers tower fic 2012 era and I just needed to write for Bob…I love him too much. I have more planned for this - just know this is a warm up fic (ignore that its 6.5k words)…okay ENJOY.

You had a serious problem.

Scratch that - you had two serious problems.

The first one being your ever growing, debilitating crush on your teammate Bob.

The second one being a certain someone that was currently staring you right in the face.

“You like Bob!”

Framing your face with your hands, you let out a long sigh as you try and curl in on yourself. You’re only halfway successful, anymore and you would have fallen off your stool. And you really didn't want to give Alexei ammunition for this barrage of embarrassment.

“No…no you completely misheard me…” You groaned, leaning your head onto the cool island counter.

You could not believe that you had let it slip. You had been so careful. It was easy at first, when you first met it had been in an incinerator meant to kill all of you so your main priority was to live. Not to swoon over the cute puppy eyed guy who made your heart leap in your chest when he kept introducing himself and trying his best to be helpful despite obviously not really having a clue what was going on. There was no need to address whatever spark you had felt in those few seconds when you and the rest of the team were trying to make it out of the O.X.E facility…alive. But then he proceeded to - at least what it looked like at the time - sacrifice himself so you and Yelena, Ava, and Walker could get away.

How could you not fall for the guy?

“Ah Ah Ah! I have good ears, I heard correctly! You said you liked him too much to be given individual assignment with him.”

“I don't think that's what I said.”

“No, I quote directly.”

“Ahhh Im not -”

“No, yes that is exactly how you said. Verbatim.”

The both of you stared at each other, having a sort of battle of wills. You stared down Alexei with an ever growing blush creeping up from your neck to your cheeks whilst he stared directly back, a growing smile and similar blush of satisfaction rouging his cheeks. 

Taking a beat, you met his eye before feeling your shoulders fall. There was no point in denying it.

“Fine…yes I like Bob.”

“YES!! I KNEW IT!” He cheered as he shot his arms up into the air, a laugh erupting from him as he jumped around.

“Hey! Hey!! Can you keep it down!? I do not need the whole tower knowing.” You whisper yell, shaking your hands at him. 

“Oh yes! Yes yes…shhhhh. Quiet.” He put a finger on his lips as he smiled at you. 

There was a second where Alexei just stared at you smiling. He had this proud look on his face as he walked around the counter island and sat next to you. His hand came to rest on your back as he watched you stare off ahead, seemingly preparing for whatever he was going to say next.

“Why have you not confessed to him? You both would make such beautiful couple.”

This got a quick chuckle as you ran a hand over your face.

You wished it was that simple. You really did. Then the aching in your chest could finally be alleviated every time he walked into a room. You would actually be able to focus on whatever assignment you were given instead of focusing on what it would feel to be able to hold his hand.

By the gods you were down bad for Robert Reynolds.

“I-It's not that simple Alexei. I'd rather not ruin…the team dynamic.” You mutter, beginning to pick at the skin around your nails.

He hummed next to you and you knew he didn't believe one word you had said. You knew he could read into people more than he let on. You supposed that was part of his charm, part of his dynamic in this odd found family unit. There had been plenty of times you had seen him giving a dad-ly speech to whoever needed it at the moment. Right now just happened to be your turn.

“I think you are scared to confront what is in your heart.” He reached forward, resting his finger right above your heart. The moment was sincere…for only a second.

Clapping both hands onto your shoulder, he smiles as he stands.

“But I am not! I shall help you confess your undying love for Bob! A love like this should not be hidden.” 

A cold chill ran up your spine as you quickly stood, watching as he began his leave of the kitchen.

“No Alexei, that really isn't necessary!”

“It is no trouble! I will be best wingman! You’ll see! You won’t regret!”

“Won't regret what?”

Both of your heads whipped towards the entrance to the kitchen, seeing Walker standing there in his training gear. He had a towel wrapped around his neck, but no visible sweat to soak it up. Either he was headed there now or attempting to show off how not tired he was. You were not in the mood to decipher or feed into his ego right now.

Alexei coughed loudly, holding out his hands to you with a smile.

“Our dearest (Y/N) here has agreed to go on Bob’s first solo mission with him!”

Going still, you watch as Alexei gives you a big smile. Walker looks between the two of you before letting out a big sigh and swinging open the fridge door.

“Thank God! Honestly I didn’t think I would have the patience to deal with him.” He laughed as he proceeded to look between the two of you, taking a rather large bite of an apple as his gaze stayed on you.

“You’re up for the challenge right? Cause I don’t think anyone else is…”

With a roll of your eyes, you gave Alexei a quick glare. All he did in return was give you two thumbs up while patting Walker on the shoulder. The super soldier stumbled a little, choking on air as he branched himself on the counter.

“Of course they are! This will be walk in the park!”

──── ✦ ────

It should be criminal, requiring a mission briefing this early in the morning.

Rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you stumbled towards the conference room with a huff. You weren’t entirely sure why Bucky felt it was necessary to meet so early. Maybe it was the soldier in him. You remember some off handed conversation from a while ago about it setting the day off on a good routine. Personally you were more than okay with starting the day off by sleeping in a little longer.

Pushing open the door, you sighed as you took a look around the room.

Since it was the meeting regarding Bob’s first mission, you knew most of the team would be there to discuss. It was a big step for him, and even if everyone didn't want to say it out right, they all wanted him to succeed.

Bucky and Yelena stood side by side going over the documents, no doubt plotting the best route for success. Ava was being Ava meaning she was doing her usual brooding in the corner going through what was no doubt her fourth cup of coffee. You couldn’t imagine how tired she was having to be up this early whilst simultaneously keeping her physical body in check.

Before you could see where the rest of the team had decided to perch up, Alexei was in front of you with a folder and a cup of coffee. You gave him a once over before slowly taking both.

If you had been more awake, you would have been able to see what was coming next.

“Good morning! How you sleep? Good? Great! Here, let me sit you down so you can be ready for mission brief.”

Putting a hand on your back, Alexei took your arm and led you over to a pulled out chair. You could tell he had used some of his super soldier strength to sit you down and push your chair in, you had to steady your arm to keep your cup from spilling.

Suddenly he was on the other side of you, one had on your shoulder as he looked back and forth from you and…someone else.

“You both should discuss mission! Would be good preparation.” 

When Alexei pulled back, with a very strong slap to your shoulder, you finally saw who was in the other chair.

Bob sat there, rubbing his shoulder with a wince. He looked just as awake as you, with his hair tousled and clothes still wrinkled from sleep. When Bob met your eye you watched as he swallowed and gave you a small wave. You felt your heart skip in your chest as he gave you a small dopey smile. 

“Goodmorning.” 

You were too busy trying to catch your breath to see Alexei tip toeing away with the biggest grin on his face.

“Morning…How are you feeling about all of this?” Clearing your throat, your eyes flicker over him.

He shuffled in his seat, straightening his shirt as he reached and played with the corner of the document. It didn’t even look creased, he hadn’t even looked at the assignment. Probably out of fear, in truth you had been too nervous to open it as well. Whatever lay in that envelope would determine the course of Bob’s heroic career.

“Nervous…I know everyone will be watching…waiting for me to ‘void’ out or whatever…” 

You felt your hand twitch in your lap as you reached to take hold of his shoulder. He turned towards you with a look of curiosity. “Don’t worry. Whatever happens I'm sure you’ll do great.” 

Reaching for the document, you cleared your throat. “Plus, I’ll be there to help you out.”

“Wait, really?”

Taking a quick look over at him, he was giving you such a hopeful look. He straightened up a little, leaning forward on his elbows as he looked at you.

“Y-Yea…I v-”

“They so valiantly said they wanted to be one to go on mission with you!” 

If you could disappear right now at this very moment you would. Just poof out of existence the minute Alexei opened his mouth. Both you and Bob winced, before looking forward. He stood there next to Yelena with a big smile while everyone else in the room looked a little flustered by his sudden outburst. Walker even chuckled as he brought his cup up to his lips, before a heavy hand slapped him on the back making him choke.

“They will make a great team won’t they?” Alexei smiled, giving you a not so subtle wink.

Walker rolled his shoulders back, cracking his neck as he reached to pat off whatever coffee had spilled on him.

“Yeah sure, whatever you say…”

Looking over at Bob, you were sure the both of you were a violent shade of red. You gave him a short smile which he reciprocated as you two both sat up just a little straighter.

“Alright everyone, we’re already behind schedule so if we can get started.”

──── ✦ ────

It was a simple recon mission.

The two of you were gonna infiltrate a classified mountain base, copy and wipe their hard drives, then get out without them even knowing you were there.

It was specified that you would do most of the heavy lifting. Your background in covert operations would be the main asset to this mission. You would get yourself and Bob into the building, then hack the system and make sure every nook and cranny was scraped then trashed. Avoid interaction at all cost.

Bob was there mostly for muscle.

And to watch you work.

That was the part that made you nervous. The rest you could do with your eyes closed, and a hand tied behind your back without breaking a sweat. But the thought of Bob watching your every move made your hand twitch.

The both of you stood at the edge of the jet’s drop off. You were hovering there, waiting for the open window to drop down.

This was Bob’s first test and would kick start the mission. He was supposed to get the two of you down safely and without alarm.

“How’re you feeling Bob?” Fixing a strap on your suit you finally looked up to meet his eye.

“Fine…Yea y’know just the first time I'm using my powers since I nearly wiped out all of New York…so a walk in the park really.” He was flexing his hands at his sides, like he was trying to get a grip on the reality of the situation.

You let him breathe there for a second, giving him enough time to catch his bearings. But not enough time where he could possibly spiral. 

“If I’m not worried you shouldn’t be worried. This mission is just meant to test the waters…we’ll be in and out.” 

Turning his head to look right at you, he swallowed hard. “I just don’t want to hurt you if anything goes wrong…”

A chill ran up your spine. You weren’t sure how to respond to that. Anything you could say got caught in your throat, choking you on your own desperation. Hearing those words was something that you didn’t know you needed, it set something ablaze in your chest. You were clawing at anything inside of you to respond, to get him to say anything else. To not let this moment slip by, even if it wasn’t the most appropriate time to.

If you could just get the words out, you could tell him there was absolutely nothing he could do that could hurt you. That even though he was the god amongst men, you were devout only to him.

When your lips finally parted, when you felt your confessional finally reach the tip of your tongue the plane jolted. You couldn’t react in time, your feet catching on the other as you reached for anything to steady yourself. It felt like practically the whole plane turned at a sharp 90 degree angle, before you could steady yourself something else did.

Bob wrapped his arm around your waist, steadying the both of you.You squeezed your eyes shut waiting for an impact that never came. The air around you felt like a shield as he held the two of you there, holding just a few inches above the air. His hands gripped onto you tightly, like if he let you go the floor would fall out from beneath.

When you opened your eyes again, he was staring down at you with a golden gaze. One arm stayed wrapped around your waist as the other came to hold your face. His touch felt like fire on your skin, holding your attention on him. If you tore your eyes away it felt like you were to commit a sin.

“SORRY! TURBULENCE! EVERYTHING OKAY BACK THERE?”

His eyes snuffed out as he looked over to Alexei in confusion then back to you. You couldn’t help but notice that he had yet to let you go as the both of you touched back down.

“But we’re not moving?”

With a sigh you pinch the bridge of your nose. “Yea I don’t…I don’t know what to tell you. Let’s just get ready to drop.”

──── ✦ ────

Everything was going fine until it wasn't. 

Which is usually the case for missions that seem like they were going to be a breeze, but you just wished it wouldn’t happen on this mission.

Bob was able to land the both of you on top of the building, near the entry point mapped out in the briefing. Breaking in was a breeze, especially since Bob was able to just force open any lock that gave you trouble. The two of you walked in sync, your footsteps becoming one as you turned each corner with your head on a swivel. There was a lot of security here, and people practically at each bend. 

But with bated breaths and practiced steps you were able to get to the command center without incident.

You had only been in there for a few minutes when Bob came up beside you, watching as your fingers began to fly across the keyboard.

“So…what are you doing exactly?” He leaned in close, his shoulder touching yours as you typed.

You faltered for a second, your brain short circuiting at the contact. His breath fanned over your neck as he looked over your shoulder, beaconing your pulse to quicken. You took a second to take a deep breath and close your eyes, willing your heart to slow down. He was too close for you to not be able to hide how shaky your hands became, to hear how loud your heart beat for him.

“I-I'm just bypassing any security measures they have in place. That way when I begin the download nothing corrupts the hard drive. Right now I'm sorta just on the surface level of their database, trying to reprogram all security clearance through my own user so I don't set off any alarms within their system.”

He hummed next to you putting his knuckle on his lip like he understood. But you saw a familiar glaze run over his eyes, the one that people got when something went completely over their head. Sometimes you forgot that Bob was a civilian before all of this…

Slowing your typing, you threw up what you were doing on the big monitor. Nudging him with your elbow you pointed to where your cursor was.

“Since we want to get everything off their computers without letting them know we’re even here…I'm rerouting every employee login and account through one. Mine. That way no matter how high the clearance of any specific file I'll be able to grab it up without their system knowing any wiser.” 

“What’re you gonna do after that?” 

Pressing a few more keys, a progress bar came up on the screen, read at twenty-three percent uploaded.

“Well while we wait for everything to download, I need to install some sort of malware. Something that’ll delete everything including any trace that we were even here.”

“So what am I here for?” 

“In case anything goes wrong, you’ll be my golden guardian and punch a way out. Think you can do that?” You smile, trying to lighten the mood as you pull up the surrounding camera feed.

He gives you that same smile, the one that makes your heart drop into your stomach as he rocks back and forth on his heels. “Don’t worry. I've got your back.”

Giving him a once over, you gestured at the screen. “Y’know I could teach you this stuff…it's really not that hard once you get the hang of it.”

He looked at you like you had hung the world. You watched as his eyes flickered gold for just a moment as he processed what you had said. Turning back to your typing you tried not to give it away that that single look made you want to never break away with him again, you wanted to covet every iteration of his attention that you could hold.

“It’d be nice to have someone else on the team that knows this stuff.”

“Does Yelena not know how to do this?”

“Who do you think gives Yelena and the rest of the team the thumb drives that does all of the work for them?

This gets a laugh from him, one that makes your ears burn as you continue to type.

“That would be cool, I'll definitely take you up on that after we get back.”

“It's a date.” The words slipped out in just that order before you could reel them in. A chill went down your spine as you realized what you had just said. 

You could tell that you had taken Bob by surprise when you said that. His shoulders squared and rolled back ever so slightly as he straightened to look at you. He was still nervously pulling at his fingers but you had captured his attention.

You opened your mouth to say more - when suddenly the room was shaded in red. 

The both of you turned to the screen and saw a large flashing warning screen piercing your eyes. You reached up to shield them as one of your hands went to type on the keypad. 

“ALERT ALERT. UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS AT TERMINAL 3-2-4-8!”

“Fuck.” You whispered, your fingers beginning to make dents in the keyboard with how hard you were typing. 

“What's happening!?” Bob yelled, covering his ears.

You weren’t completely locked out yet. This was merely a scare tactic. They had realized where you were accessing the system but hadn’t been able to locate which string of commands was yours. The progress bar showed you were at eighty-three percent. 

You just needed a little more time.

“They found out we’re here. I should still be able to get everything downloaded but I just need a little more time.” 

Pulling open one of your pouches you pulled out a small SD card. You really didn’t want to upload the malware while you were still scrapping all the information but you couldn’t afford to wait any longer. You’d just have to hope that you could download the last seventeen percent before the virus infected everything in the facility.

Looking up you see Bob standing there like a deer in headlights. The red light seemingly being a personification of his anxiety, it painted every crease of fear on his face.

“Bob! BOB! I need you to reinforce the door.”

He shook his head, as if he was shaking all the anxieties out of his thoughts. “Right! Yup! On it!”

It took just a beat for the two of you to jump back into action. You quickly began stripping the terminal internally while Bob ran to pin the door closed. You were racing against your own software as you watched the malware start to eat up the server you were on. The screen started to glitch as you continued to type.

“Fuck…FUCK! C’mon.”

Looking up, you saw Bob pushing multiple desks in front of the door. He was stacking them atop one another, creating a mountain of protection to keep any of them from getting in. Bob let out a huff as he leaned against the pile.

“That should hold them. Hows it coming on your end?”

“Just…Give me a few more seconds…”

Right when the progression bar reached one hundred percent you ripped it out of the computer and held it up.

“I GOT IT!”

You should have known that this would be when shit hit the fan.

You were only able to see Bob give you a strained smile and thumbs up before the windows to the office exploded with gunfire. 

Glass flew in every direction, cascading over the desks as you dropped to your knees behind them. Covering your head you let out a scream as you tucked under the desk.

You heard Bob call out your name above the gunfire, a blur coming into view as he kneeled in front of you.

“Are you okay?!”

“Oh y’know never better! Getting shot at is my favorite way to end a mission!” You yell, giving a thumbs up as you slid the hard drive into one of your belt pockets. 

You weren’t prepared for this to happen. It was supposed to be a covert mission, they weren’t supposed to know you were here. You didn’t have any bulletproof anything on, you didn’t have any exit gear or counter measures you could use at your disposal…You were totally exposed.

Closing your eyes, you winced as you continued hearing the bullets rain down around you. You tried to make sense of every different sound coming from around you, from the metal banging on the reinforced door to the smell of smoke and gunpowder coming from the other side of the room. There were two loud bangs that erupted from behind, making you curl further into yourself. The room had surged into chaos around you, a chaos you weren’t able to escape it seemed like.

Then you felt a tender touch on your wrist, pulling it away from your ear. Slowly looking over you saw Bob now haloed by a light behind him.

“Hey! Hey! I think I found a way out. There's a door in the back. We just need to make a break for it.”

Even under a hail of bullets, Bob still managed to halt your every action with one gesture. He held his hand out for you, waiting with an expected gaze. 

“C’mon…”

When your hands locked together, Bob quickly pulled you out from under the table. He whipped you around to shield you from the bullets, tucking your head into his chest as he curled around you. You watched as the bullets just bounced off of him, landing just a few inches away from you. He didn’t even seem bothered by all the commotion like he was a few seconds ago, you could tell now his main concern was making sure you got out safe.

There was a pause, when the muzzle flares stopped and the sound of clips dropping filled the air.

“They’re reloading…Bob they’re reloading…GO NOW!”

The both of you started running, your feet pounding hard on the ground as Bob led you to the door. It felt like your two hands were more than interwoven. It was like they were sealed by the very grooves in your palms, fusing into one pulse. You could practically feel how hard his heart was pounding, it got louder and louder the closer you got to the door. Like it was telling you that you were almost out of harm's way.

If you could have just made it through that door without incident…

The door was bolted shut, that much was evident when it didn’t move an inch despite Bob’s pulling on the handle. His one hand remained with you, while the other smacked the door.

He was too stressed to even think about using his powers…

“Bob…Bob just breathe! Focus on pushing the door open. That's all you need to do!”

You felt a twitch in your ears when the familiar sounds of chambers being loaded ricocheted off the walls of the office. Turning your head back, you swallowed when the men that were behind the windows had seemingly disappeared, but you could hear the squeak of their boots. They were moving into a better position, a better vantage point that gave them a better angle on the two of you. 

When Bob looked back to give you a triumphant opened mouth smile, a burning sensation erupted through your side. You felt confused at first, a grimace making its way on your face as a searing pain shot up through your nerves. 

The air around you turned stale when you pulled back the hand you had placed on your side, and it was coated in your blood.

You were bleeding. You were bleeding from a wound that suddenly felt like a red hot rod was slowly making its way through your side.

You tried to catch your breath as you looked up at Bob, who had gone pale. His eyes were trained not on you but on your hand and your wound. They flickered between the two quickly, before slowly making their way up to meet your eye.

“Bob…Did I just get shot?” Your voice barely peaked above a quivering whisper as the pain reached your knees, making your joints buckle under the pressure of the pain…how fast it was coming on.

You braced yourself in his arms as he caught you, pulling you through the doorway as the sound of gunfire erupted in your ears once more. Had the pain amplified everything else? Those gunshots were not nearly as loud as they were last time they shot at you. You winced as one hand kept pressure on where you assumed the wound was, while the other cradled your head.

Bob quickly sealed the door shut, rushing over to your side. One of his hands came to press on the hand that held your wound, while the other cupped your face. Just like on the plane, his thumb stroked under your eye. The moment he held you, you forgot all about the pain that was tearing through your muscles.

“Hey…Hey…You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna be alright…It's not even that bad really…” Bob kept muttering as he kneeled above you.

When he pulled his hand away from your cheek you were reminded of the pain again. You groaned as the pain made you writhe up into a hunched sitting position. Both hands now rested on the wound, as you looked around with squinted eyes.

Your mind was trying to recall the building schematics from the mission briefing…the rooftop access that led to a maze of hallways where the end goal was the office. Everytime your mind was about to remember the multiple routines planned for your exit a gush of blood would spill between your fingers.

“I can see those gears turning in your head. C’mon (Y/N)...Once you get us out of here you’re gonna be right as rain.” 

When he was right in front of you again, placing both of his hands on either side of your face it all came rushing back to you.

The door was right in the back of the office…to the left of the door you both came in…so if you were right this hallway was headed in the south west direction of the building. It would just be a maze after that…a maze you knew neither of you could navigate together given current circumstances.

“Okay Bob…I'm gonna pack and dress my wound while you…break a hole through the ceiling.”

It was like he short circuited. His eyes widened then squinted as he tilted his head and licked his lips. It almost looked like he wasn’t fully computing what you had just said, which drew a pained chuckle from you.

“Are you sure you haven’t lost too much blood? Do you know where we are right now? Quick, without thinking what year is it?” 

You gave him a shove as you began to pull gauze and medical tape from a pouch to your right. The bleeding had slowed but that didn’t mean much to you given that the pain had made your entire side go numb now…

“Im serious…Im probably gonna pass out within the next three minutes and the emergency evac won’t get there before that. So our next best option is for you to fly us out of here and to the evac point instead of trying to be covert and manage your way through this maze of a building.”

“Wait, you're gonna pass out before they get here?!” He whipped around, watching as you wrapped the tape around the gauze and your waist.

“My body is going into shock…” You mutter, your fingers beginning to tingle as you stumbled down onto your knees.

“Fuck…Okay…J-Just give me a second!” 

Bob quickly flew away from you, giving you quite literally only a second to press the panic button on your suit before he was in front of you again. There was a breeze that wafted through the hallway now, calming you ever so slightly as you let out a shaky breath. 

“C’mere…” Holding out his arms, he motioned for you to come closer. 

Slowly, you moved into Bob’s space. He reached forward slowly, pulling you into him. Letting him move your arms to wrap around his neck, he reached to hold onto your back before hooking his arm under your knees. You kept your eyes shut as you felt him tighten his hold on you, followed by a gushing of wind.

You knew exactly what was happening, and you did not trust yourself to open your eyes.

“DO NOT DROP ME BOB!”

You felt a chuckle rumble through his chest as the two of you came to a stop. The air around you held you close, brushing against your cheek as you dared to peel it off of Bob’s chest.

“I told you I’ve got your back. Everything is going to be just fine.”

Peaking one eye open, you saw him smile down at you. You let out a breathy chuckle as you felt him tug you even closer - if that was even possible.

──── ✦ ────

Something was pinning your arm down.

You were hyper aware of how your entire body felt right now, especially your side…where you were shot was sore but no longer on fire. You were tucked into what felt like a starched hospital bed. But you couldn’t make sense of why your left arm felt like it was pinned down by some weights. Nothing had happened to it to your knowledge.

Slowly you peeled your eyes open, smacking your lips together. After you managed to pull whatever was pinning your arm down off of you you’d need to get a glass of water. 

When you finally managed to turn your head, you saw Bob. To be more specific Bob was sleeping atop your arm, his body steadily rising and falling as he was practically hanging off the side of your bed.

Everything about the end of the mission was coming back to you now. How you put your life in Bob’s hands as he got the both of you out of harm's way and home. A small smile made its way on your lips as you adjusted ever so slightly. As much as you liked looking at him like this, you really wanted your arm back.

He must have sensed that you had woken up, because before you could peel him off your arm he lifted his head up. Your breath got caught in your throat as the both of you just stared at each other.

Bob immediately shot up, the chair he was (barely) sitting on screeching back into the wall. “You’re awake! H-How are you feeling? Do you need anything?” 

You laughed as you pulled yourself up into a sitting position, seeing Bob freeze as he waited for something to go wrong.

“Water…” You rasped, coughing into the back of your hand.

A bottle of water made it into your hand in record time, with Bob holding the back of it as he opened the bottle for you. With a slow swallow, you hummed as Bob put the lid back on and moved it over to the bedside table.

“How long have I been out?” 

He slowly pulled the chair back up to the edge of your bed, sitting right beside you as he rolled his shoulders back.

“About eighteen hours. We got back at around three am, they rushed you to surgery after that. Said you were lucky that it went clean through.” 

You nodded, glancing down at the edge of the bed he was sat at. He was picking at the skin around his finger nails, eyes not meeting yours as he recalled what happened with precision. Like it had been running through his head the entire time you were out. There was no doubt in your mind that this entire time that he was waiting for you to wake up his anxieties were eating him alive…

Your fingers twitched in your lap as you took a second to compose yourself before slowly sliding your hand into his. The warmth of your palm seeped into his as the two of you just sat there in silence, neither of you looking directly at each other but rather at the grip of your palms together.

You broke the silence first, your voice cutting through the tension. “You did a really good job Bob.”

“Ahhh, It was all thanks to your calm head. You really were the reason why everything went smoothly.” He muttered, his thumb running across your knuckles.

“Bob you’re the whole reason why I got out of there in one piece you know that right? You’re also the reason why we were able to get in and out without incident.” You lean your head down to try and catch his eye.

“Without incident.” He scoffs, looking to the side. But he didn’t let go of your hand, if anything his grip got tighter. 

“Bob…I hope you know that wasn’t your fault. Everything was going smoothly up until that millisecond where they got the jump on us. Did you forget you literally shielded me from a barrage of bullets seconds earlier? I was watching them just bounce off you with awe.” You chuckle.

He took a second to process what you said, his eyes staying on your hand before finally making their way up to yours. When his eyes met yours his sweet smile finally graced his lips again, making your cheeks go hot.

“Y’know that still shocks me that I can do that…”

“Dude I wish I was bulletproof! Would save me so much time honestly.”

This gets a laugh from him as he sits up straighter, running a hand through his hair as he looks at you with such a devoted look. “Says the expert hacker. Which reminds me, you promised me some hacking lessons when we got back.”

“If I remember correctly I believe I called it a date…” You paused for just a second, a warmth exploding in your chest as a foreign confidence found its way into your veins.

The blush that had been painting your cheeks everytime you found yourself in a room with Bob seemed to spread to him as he smiled at you. Or maybe he always had that rouge on his cheeks as you were just never able to see it past the burning of your own. 

When he opened his mouth to respond, another voice shook the walls.

“FINALLY! YOU AGREE TO GO ON DATE! I HAVE WING MANED SUCCESSFULLY!” 

Alexei stood there with his arms high up in the air, laughing as he looked between the two of you. He clapped his hands together before holding them out to bask at the two of you. Both you and Bob just sat there in shock, waiting for the cheerful Russian to reach a normal volume.

When he noticed that the two of you were both blushed deer in headlights left to his jests, he went stiff as he raised his hands in surrender. “Do not mind me. Go back to your confessions of feelings. I will be down the hall…Glad to see you are awake and well.”

If he could have left a puff of smoke shaped like him in his wake as he ran away, you were sure that's what you would be staring at now instead of an empty doorway.

There was a beat of silence, as both you and Bob slowly turned to look at eachother again. But instead of an awkward tension he only gave you a shy smile as his other hand reached to rub the back of his neck…with his other still holding yours.

“So…he agreed to be your wing man as well?”

“Oh my god don't even get me started on that.”

[mondaymelon]

OMGGG what about the tall genshin men reacting when u suddenly distance urself from them, but they dont know its bc of something they said? feel free to edit n modify this as much as ud like :3

₊˚ෆ "𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓, 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐔𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄…" | diluc, childe, kaveh x gn!reader

art by @/kongqingkoqi on twitter! (not too sure on who you meant by tall characters, so i just chose a couple males with the tall model~ thank you for your request!)

— cw: angst + comfort ? injury (diluc), ngl reader is kinda a bitch in childe's but it was the only way i thought up of of making the situation work so. lmao. cries

[ Perhaps it was the winter cold that had bit him so, or perhaps it was merely a gloom that had briefly descended upon him. Either way, an unfortunate slip of the tongue has wounded you, yet they themselves remain unaware. ]

"Love?"

DILUC's eyes are round with worry, and his concerned gaze sweeps over you - from your crestfallen form, and then to your eyes that shy away from his. Ever since he had returned to the estate after being out of business since morning, you've been avoiding him, not wishing to speak a single word to his self and not even bothering to spare him a fleeting glance.

At first, it was bearable. Perhaps you just had had a long day and wanted some alone time, no? It was always a possibility, that is, until he saw your smiling self as you busied yourself in chatting away with the maids, and most importantly, that brother of his.

What had he done to warrant such treatment? You loved him, that he was sure of. Otherwise, you would've rejected him, wouldn't you? You wouldn't have let him take your hand and bring it to his lips ever so slowly, pressing a kiss into your knuckles?

"Love, I... I'm sorry. Please, tell me what I did wrong." His voice contains a shred of his desperation, and his crimson eyes only hold you in their gaze. You, who had broken past his carefully crafted walls and rekindled the flame that had long since been extinguished within his heart. "If it's something I did, if it's something I said-"

“Diluc, you…” Your quiet voice ebbs to silence as your eyes glance away, landing on everything except for the red-haired man before you, whose broad shoulders give the slightest tremor. The darkness in your expression, the displayed hurt… Ah.

Diluc’s weary mind raced, recollecting the hasty conversation from this morning, when dawn had yet to break and he had arrived home, coat blazing, skin littered in bruises and still-bleeding cuts. You had rushed out of your bedroom, still in your night garments, panicking over the wounds that covered his body and the red that blackened his already dark clothes. In a strained voice, eyes wide and frantic, you had called for the maids, only for Diluc to forcibly shush you, steadying himself on shaky legs.

“Love, what happened, what were you doing and how did-??”

“It doesn’t concern you.” His tone is low, tired. “Stay out of this, you won’t be able to offer any assistance anyhow.”

Begrudgingly, the man recalled his absolute exhaustion, having just returned after a bloody night of battling monsters, muscles sore and crying for relief. There was no need for your concern, his cuts would mend and his wounds would heal. Yet he hadn’t meant for his words to come out so harsh, for his tongue to pierce you in the way it had.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't in my right mind when I said that- I just... I just didn't want you to be hurt also... If I'm injured, those wounds will fade with time, but I.."

His words trail off, replaced with your silence - a voiceless agreement, one that Diluc takes as an answer. Holding both your hands in his gloved ones, it's somehow easy to feel his fiery warmth despite his cold demeanor. Cold... was it really so? The male's eyes shone, and then you were in his arms, tightly intertwined.

"..I don't know what I would do if harm were to befell you, love..."₊˚ෆ

"Love!"

CHILDE's playful smile fades at its corners as you walk past him, the way you're failing to even acknowledge his presence painfully apparent. "Hah... what's with you today?" Another absence of a response. You dash your way out of his sight, and he's left alone in the dark living room, a half-smile still on his features. The fuck?

Okay, maybe it was just one of those days. There had been several since the start of the relationship, and the harbinger offered his utmost understanding. Sometimes people just felt like shit, and didn't feel like doing shit, and he could understand that to some extent.

There, mystery solved, yeah? Ah, but just one problem, how come you had been completely fine just an hour before? He had the day off, and so did you, so there was a mutual agreement to just stay home and laze about in one another's presence - yet it was only nearing lunchtime and you had already given him the cold shoulder? For what..? You hadn't even gone outside or did anything today-

Oh. Then he had to have been the problem. He raps his knuckles on your bedroom door, but it's really his bedroom too, and is bold enough to poke his head through the frame without waiting for your confirmation, a hesitant grin decorating his lips. "Love, I'm sorry- for ah... whatever you disliked...?"

You're sat at your desk, weariness evident in your darkened eyes. "Childe, do you find me someone who needs to be protected?"

He blinks. "...What?"

"Childe, do you really just want to spend the entire day lying around?" Snapping your fingers, your eyes lit up with sparkles. "We should go to a cafe or something for lunch, maybe, and then-"

"Why through go all the effort? We're staying home because I thought you wanted to, aren't we?"

"Not to that extent Childe... if you were with friends, what would you be doing? Not sitting on the couch all day, I hope?" A sheepish smile crossed your face.

"Hmm.. friends... I suppose we'd duel...?"

"Then-"

"Nope, no way am I dueling with you, you're way too weak, love, that's why I gotta protect you, hm?"

He immediately shakes his head at your words, almost frantic. "W- No, I didn't mean it in that way, love. You're capable, it's just that... Well- you don't have a vision, or a weapon, or-"

"Childe." Not your usual 'love', a bright smile on your lips, and he flinches just the slightest at the sight. "We're in a relationship. I don't want to be in a give all take all relation, you know? I.. I want to be independent, I want you to rely on me sometimes too... I just feel like sometimes I'm just such a burden to you and-"

"A burden?" His eyes widen, features instantly shadowing with disbelief at your words.

You, a burden? Such a thing couldn't possibly be. The warmth that you had granted him, the delicate arms that had held him in its hold, the lips that had whispered such affections and pressed kisses on his skin-

"No, love. You are not a burden, not when you are someone who makes life worth living." ₊˚ෆ

"Love...?"

KAVEH's in instant full blown panic mode, the dark bags under his eyes especially evident with how wide they've grown. "H-Hey, are you okay?" Of course, something wasn't okay - otherwise, why would you be ignoring him like this? But his sleepless mind has grown frantic, and he's desperate for relief. His hand latches onto yours before you can disappear into another room, holding onto your wrist loosely enough to not seem forceful. "Ah..."

He'd moved without thinking, almost as if on instinct, and now that you had glanced back with something colder in your gaze, that same urge told him not to let go. "I, I'm sorry!" For what exactly, he wouldn't even be able to tell a soul, yet the words seemed to have done the trick, as your feet pause in the middle of a step away from him, hesitance clear in your expression.

"For what, Kaveh?"

Shit, he's fucked. This was it, all the all nighters and hours of laborious planning and calculations had led to this one moment... His mind was spurred into action as his mouth sputtered useless stutters and... oh, could it be?

"Kaveh, you should go to sleep, it's already so late, and you haven't gotten a good rest in days, love..." Your concerned tone rang clearly in his ears, but he shook the words away, his disheveled form only focusing on the work before him, the endless tasks he had yet to complete.

"No, I... I can't. Love, could you brew me a cup of coffee, the extra strong kind? Thank you..." He gave his sleepy eyes a rub, completely missing the look that had flitted across your face in that moment.

Your sigh invades his flashbacks, and you look completely done with him, brows furrowed a fraction and lips drawn into a thin line. "Kaveh, please, for the love of the archons, take some better care of yourself."

"...Ah?"

Suddenly, your tone had shifted in the span of a half second, and instead of the angry gaze he had expected, it was more so... scolding. Concern. "Close that jaw of yours, Kaveh, how come you look so surprised? I've told you this time and time again, you need rest!"

An accusing finger was pointed in his direction, the bearer someone he was certainly very familiar with. "Well, it's a big project, I have to finish it by next week and there's barely any time, so I need to-"

"-And how can you possibly plan on functioning if you haven't gotten any sleep?"

Curses, a valid argument. Kaveh slowly held up his empty hands in defeat, chuckling sheepishly. So this was about him, and not you? Thank the archons, for a second he had thought he had messed up big time-

"That look of yours, you better not be thinking what I think you're thinking! And, besides..." You glanced at the ground, as if suddenly reluctant to speak another word. "I was waiting for you so we could sleep together..."

...An angel? Was that who was before him?

"I-I'm sorry... I promise I'll take better care of myself and... you won't have to wait for me, tonight. I'll turn in early, love." ₊˚ෆ

(a/n) not all that proud of this one. but here. sigh

reblogs are veryyyy appreciated!! if you liked this fic, please consider following, as im super close to a follower goal id love to hit before new years! thank you.

໒꒱ || ᴛᴀɢʟɪꜱᴛ (open! send an ask or a comment ♡) : @manager-of-the-pudding-bank, @iamdedinside, @ilyuu, @achlysis, @swivy123, @scara-is-my-wife, @lupicalbestwolf, @justyoureader, @fiannee, @aether-darling 

[girlactionfigure]

The Trump administration detained Mahmoud Khalil because he allegedly violated the terms of his permanent residency (Green Card/immigrant visa) by espousing support or encouraging others to espouse support for US-designated terrorist groups. 

Whether you agree with these laws or not, or with Khalil’s detention or not, those are American immigration laws and have absolutely nothing to do with how the State of Israel feels about Mahmoud Khalil, his politics, or his activism.

That said, I do not believe the use of “shalom” here as a threat is helpful at all. In fact, it only fuels this conspiracy and places even more of a target on the backs of Jews, who are already feeling deeply vulnerable. 

Again, Khalil’s detainment and potential deportation have absolutely nothing to do with Israeli law and everything to do with American immigration law.

THE CONSPIRACY THAT JEWS CONTROL FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS

The conspiracy that Jews or Zionists control the American government is an evolution of the much older “international Jewish conspiracy,” which has its origins all the way back in the 13th century. The conspiracy alleges that Jews secretly command foreign governments (including, now, the United States) to conspire against Christian, Muslim, or white interests, depending on the identity of the antisemite.

This conspiracy, however, really rose in popularity in the 19th century, when Frederick van Millingen published “The Conquest of the World by the Jews.” 

Then, in 1903, a newspaper called Znamya published the most infamous -- and influential -- antisemitic hoax of all time, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, which, allegedly, declassified the minutes of secret meetings between Jewish leaders during the First Zionist Congress in 1897. According to The Protocols, which was proven to be a forgery in 1920, 1935, and 1964, Jews are power-hungry conspirators who are plotting to rule the world by controlling the economy and the media and inciting religious conflict around the globe.

ZIONIST OCCUPIED GOVERNMENT/ZIONIST OCCUPATION GOVERNMENT

In 1976, American neo-Nazi Eric Thomson wrote an article titled, “Welcome to the ZOG-World,” where he introduced the “Zionist Occupation Government” conspiracy. In his work, Thomson argued that Jews maneuver the machinations of western governments by suppressing free speech, confiscating land, and taking over military and police forces.

THE ROTHSCHILDS

The Rothschild family is a wealthy Jewish banking family that rose to prominence in 18th century Europe. In 1846, French journalist Mathieu Georges Dairnvaell wrote a pamphlet under the pen name “Satan,” which, just like the The Protocols a few decades later, made a number of false allegations that over time spiraled into antisemitic canards of their own. “Satan” accused Nathan Rothschild of witnessing France’s 1815 defeat in the Battle of Waterloo firsthand and weaponizing this knowledge — before the news broke to the public — to make 20 million francs in the stock exchange.

In reality, Nathan Rothschild was never in Belgium, nor did he ever profit from the Battle of Waterloo. Yet over the next couple centuries, the Rothschilds would be blamed of manipulating just about every government and instigating just about every war or calamity for economic gain...even the Holocaust. 

Today the term “Rothschild” is often used as an antisemitic dogwhistle. It has become a placeholder for the supposedly rich and greedy Jewish cabal which manipulates world events for their pleasure. In reality, though the Rothschilds are still wealthy, their fortune has long been divided among many descendants and the family has declined in prominence over time.

AIPAC AS A DOGWHISTLE

Today, many on the left and right of the political spectrum echo the “Zionist Occupation Government” conspiracy in their so-called criticism of AIPAC, or he American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a bipartisan, pro-Israel lobbying group. 

It’s really important to understand that AIPAC, whether you agree with lobbying or not and whether you agree with its positions or not, is operating fully within the confines of American law. Notably, AIPAC did not crack the top 150 lobbying groups in the United States in 2024. In 2024, lobbying on behalf of the State of Israel did not crack the top 10 as far as lobbying goes in favor of foreign countries. There are far, far more influential lobbies that promote the interests of foreign countries than pro-Israel groups. 

Here’s the truth: there are a multitude of reasons why American foreign policy often aligns with Israel’s interests (though it’s worth noting that historically, it hasn’t always been the case. In fact, in 1948, the United States led an international arms embargo against Israel). But the United States allies with Israel out of self-interest, not out of Jewish/Israeli/Zionist manipulation.For one, though the United States gives Israel billions in foreign aid, this “aid” is, by law, an investment that is returned to the American economy multifold. Second, American and Israeli geopolitical interests have frequently been aligned (e.g. opposition to the Russia-Islamic Republic of Iran-China axis). And third, the American voter base is largely Christian (and often Evangelical), meaning that it tends to be sympathetic to the existence of the State of Israel for religious reasons.

For a full bibliography of my sources, please head over to my Instagram and  Patreon. 

rootsmetals

Hate AIPAC? Hate lobbying? Hate American immigration law? Hate the Trump administration? Great. That’s your right. I encourage you to criticize all those things — as is your right — without regurgitating literal neo-Nazi conspiracies. I know you can do it!

[littlemisssquiggles]

Why did no one tell me about the little “omake” chapters of DandaDan?

I was today years old when I learned the existence of these little extra omake or bonus chapters of Dandadan that expand on what’s going on with some of the other DanDandan characters like the Aira and Evil Eye Jiji one for example.

I thought it quite cute that Evil Eye cared enough about Aira to help her with getting her old friends to start talking to her again. That was actually oddly sweet of him.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the Evil Eye might secretly have a widdle crush on Aira. Doesn’t have to be true. I mean it’s just me spitting here.

But I’d be lying if Evil Eye crushing on Aira is definitely feeding into my thoughts on Aira and Jiji eventually being a couple.

I DO LIKE the Jijira ship. I mean Dandadan got me wracking up new ships to love like Uno cards with each new arc.

Already I’m Team Momokarun - obviously. Otherwise why am I even here if not to suffer at the hands of Yukinobu Tatsu as he proceeds to write the most beautiful shoujo romance love story disguised as a shonen battle anime that the world has ever seen and taking his sweet ass time doing it too. That magnificent romantic bastard.

---

I’m Team Jijira - I just think they’re NEAT okay? Our secondary BAKAS IN LOVE potential couple next to Momokarun.

No seriously, I think these two can actually work really, REALLY well together if Aira would just come to her senses of seeing that Okarun is OBVIOUSLY in love with Momo and NOT her, get over him and redirect her interest to the guy who is actually always by her side more than Okarun. Meaning Jiji.

As for Jiji and where he stands on love and romance. To all the people who keep saying that Jiji is in LOVE with Momo, I raise you one important question? Where? Where is this love you keep insinuating that Jiji has for Momo?

Believe me, I have watched the anime. I have read the manga up to date and all I’ve seen so far is a good boy who just simply cares very deeply for his childhood friend and is very protective of her. Nothing more.

I mean Aira is more obvious with her feelings for Okarun than Jiji is for Momo.

I dunno man. The Momiji ship and its shippers is giving me Zutara from Avatar vibes. Ya’ll up in here painting this magnificent love story between these two characters and telling everybody who would listen about it but when you actually read the ACTUAL canon content, there is nothing to insinuate anything like that at all.

Then again, I might just be biased because even IF Jiji DID in fact have a crush on Momo … that means shit because WE KNOW Jiji will NEVER end up with Momo BECAUSE SHE IS IN LOVE WITH OKARUN AND HE LOVES HER TOO!

Not unless Tat-Tat writes an arc where there’s an alternative universe/ reverse time line type shit where Momo ended up with Jiji instead of Okarun due to weebly wobbly, timey wimey stuff.

And now thanks to Aira omake chapter with the Evil Eye, I have more reasons to believe that Jijira could be a possibility. Either way, my Jijira shipping heart has been fed.

---

I’m Team Vaminta: or Kintola? Whatever the official Vamola x Kinta ship is called. Doesn’t matter. Vamola is (literally) a queen and Kinta is her king. Nuff said!

My goat and baby girl deserve each other!

---

And finally; I’m Team Rinuma - yes, yes, I KNOW Rin and Zuma have yet to actually officially interact in the story but how can I NOT ship them prematurely. The girl with gravity powers making people float and the boy with the umbrella? C’mon it’s like poetry. The ship practically writes itself even if Tat-Tat hasn’t gotten there yet. I see the vision and I’m embracing it while I can; dagnabbit!

---

So yeah, those are my current favourite Dandadan ships. Returning to the omakes, I also enjoyed the Chiquitta one.

Did not know Chiquitta was attending school on Earth. I mean it would make sense since his father is currently working on Earth so that Chiquitta can get all the milk he can get to keep himself healthy and strong. Yeah makes perfect sense actually.

Loved the chapter showing Chiquitta protecting his classmates from older bullies. Like father, like son. Chiquitta got hands man! That’s our favourite kappa son!

Also Chiquitta imitating Jiji of all people when interacting with a girl is insanely cute. Of all the people for Lil Chiqui to copy, why Jiji of all people? Then again, better him that Kenta, am I right?

There’s also speculation now that the little girl that suspects Chiquitta to be an alien is actually related to Okarun.

Like she’s his little sister and that Okarun comes from a large family where possibly some of the background characters we’ve probably overlooked throughout the story may allegedly be related to our favourite Yokai speedster.

Personally I’m down for this theory since it’ll actually confirm Okarun as being from Earth instead of my crazy theory of him secretly being a member of a humanoid alien race who was abandoned on Earth at birth and raised by a human family or someting like that. .

Because we have yet to glimpse into what Okarun’s home life is as yet, it’s got me wondering if Okarun even has a family. I mean surely he has to have a home because in spite being a loner/outcast for most of his school life, Okarun is always well-clothed, well fed and stocked up on occult-related magazines.

So outside of the alien heritage theory, it wouldn’t surprise me if Okarun actually comes from a pretty wealthy family and the reason why he’s always seen ready and flexible to go off on his own without his parents wondering about his whereabouts is probably because Okarun’s parents/caretakers are probably living a life where they’re never home with him.

Perhaps Okarun’s parents work overseas and the reason for Okarun’s deep fascination with the occult is cause its related to his parents’ occupation.

Maybe his parents are archaeologists or astrologists or a pair of people who study these kind of things and often have to travel abroad for long periods of time while Okarun is left alone; unable to accompany them due to him attending school in Japan.

I mean, it would make sense why we haven’t seen them as yet in the story. To me, Okarun living alone because his parents work overseas sounds more plausible than them secretly being alien.

Perhaps the little girl who suspects Chiquitta of being an alien doesn’t necessarily have to be someone related to Okarun. Perhaps she’s his neighbour or something. Or maybe she doesn’t even know Okarun and is just someone related to Chiquitta’s side of the story.

On the subject of aliens, it would actually be pretty funny if Okarun’s parents were another pair of refugee aliens who have been living on Earth for years and thus Okarun is secretly an alien who was born and raised on Earth.

Like his parents brought him up on the occult to desensitize him to the existence of the alien race. Their race; although they never revealed the truth of their alien lineage to Okarun, wanting him to grow up believing himself to be just a “normal human boy on Earth” when he actually isn't.

I mean that’s another theory for the pool of possibilities.

If Okarun parents are indeed secretly aliens then imagine them being Ken Takakura fans as much as Momo is because his movies were the first thing they were exposed to once they came to Earth and thus they decided to take the surname of Takakura and named their Earth-born “alien” son, Okarun after him.

It would honestly be insane if there comes a time when Momo gets to meet Okarun’s parents and the first thing they bond over is their shared love for Ken Takakura.

That would actually be insanely cute.

Overall, these are just little headcanons. For all I know, there’s probably no twist to Okarun at all.

He could really just be a regular guy who, despite everything that life had thrown at him, lucked out and found the love of his life and the literal girl of his dreams when she just happened to be passing by on a bad day and noticed him for the first time.

That really could be just it.

Then again; who really knows.

We really have to see what Tat-Tat has cooking up in that noggin of his for this ongoing love story he's made.

The most I will say is that the longer the story drags on with us readers never seeing or knowing anything about Okarun’s homelife, the more this squiggle meister will start to believe that he’s secretly an alien until it’s debunked by the actual story.

~LMS (2025)

[boosnotes]

Dude, I fucked up

Sonic T. Hedgehog x reader (platonic) & Shadow T. Hedgehog x reader (romantic)

Warning: none

Genre: eeeh... comedy? cause its not funny and absurd enough to be a crack fic

A/n: im not totally in love with this work, but i hate throwing them away

"I think I like Shadow." You blurted out suddenly, Sonic slowly turned his head around and gave you a very concerned look. You two were hanging out, watching a shitty movie, one of those that are so bad they're good. This was something you had to get out of your chest, to try at least to check if it's actually real and not your brain confusing love for having someone just treating you decently.

"Why would you do that to yourself?" His tone showed genuine worry, he hadn't moved a bit, his body was in shock, but his face wasn't, and his hand was still in the air right about to eat a chip.

"I don't know…" You now hang your head low, trying to make sense of your life choices, this one by far was one of your more questionable ones, which isn't a lot if you think about it, don't think about it, you're already dealing with something too serious for your heart. The blue hedgehog slowly nodded, his body relaxing a little, seeing his shoulder slack down and his hand retrieved back to the chip bowl.

"Ok… What do you like about him?" He tapped around the topic, he deserved some kind of explanation after that bomb of a statement. There was a part of him that wanted to support you, but it seemed that you didn't even support yourself. Shadow was a complicated person in general, even to befriend, he had a lot of first-hand experience in that.

"Ummm… His personality?" That came out way more in a questioning way than a statement, did you seriously like this guy? He is attractive indeed, but that's just an objective fact, not much of an opinion, but is he enough to make you like him in that way? I mean, sure, you had dreamt of him way too many times, but that's normal, totally platonic, you never kissed him in those dreams, ok, you did fuck that one time, but it doesn't even count.

"Which one? Depressed emotionally unavailable guy?" Your statements did not stop surprising him, it felt like he was chained to the ocean and tortured by feeling the waves hit him with brute force.

"Yeah, I guess…" He is sweet in his way, he just has a hard time expressing his emotions. And it's really interesting when he has those moments of talking, he knows a lot about the things he loves. He also gifts you useful things, like vitamins and a spare gun, and he takes the time to teach you how to use it correctly.

"Dude…" You stayed in an awkward silence, him staring at you as if you grew a head out of your toe. He was a hopeful guy, but maybe you weren't part of that hope. He doesn't even know if Shadow even considers him his friend, he will break your heart.

"What? I think I do, like really do. Should I confess?" You gave him a tight-set smile, clearly uncomfortable and scared of that idea. He was unpredictable, and you didn't want him to hate you or be disgusted by you, you are well aware feelings are not his forte, but you don't want to lie to him either, you don't know if you can now that you're aware of this. Sonic's eyebrows dropped and shook his head, no, it was a bad idea.

"I can be your wingman-"

"No." You cut him off, if confessing was bad, having him put you together was ten times worse. You were doomed, you fucked up, you did the only thing you were not supposed to. The moment he saw you panicking internally, he grabbed your shoulder and made you look at him.

"Stop, you're going to be the cutest couple ever, I will make that happen, even if it costs my life." His eyes were determined, they had that characteristic fire he had when battling, it made you calm down, and he always got his way, for better or worse. You gently nodded your head, making the executive decision to put your future love life in his hand. Maybe it was another of your questionable decisions, but you didn't want to deal with that.

Either way, if this goes bad, you can always blame it on Sonic being Sonic

[novankenn]

Cinder: (Swings door open quickly ignoring the note.) My Queen! Those brats have broke into the castle we must stop!

(Pauses while looking at the scene)

Jaune: (His head on Weiss's lap as she runs her fingers though his hair) Alyx was a brat but she still was like family she didn't deserve what that cat did.

Salem: I understand life is usually cruel. Now tell me more about this Curious Cat.

Cinder: WTF?!?

Cinder stalked through the halls and corridors of EverNight Castle. Her twin obsidian blades ready to strike down the intruders... if she could find them. Normally she would have zeroed in on the sounds of conflict and combat, but there was none. The grimm she passed, when she did come across them were just wandering about aimlessly, that was if they weren't sitting or laying down.

So without the sounds of a fierce pitched battle to guide her, Cinder was forced to actually search for the interlopers... who she knew was team RWBY and their friends.

Cinder: This is RIDICULOUS! I must ask my queen for help, to locate these brats.

Cinder made a turn at the next corner and stomped her way toward the throne room. She emerged from one of the side halls into the main corridor and turned towards her destination. Five minutes later she stood there before the large double doors... in total shock.

Cinder: I...

A Beowulf, dressed in a tasteful skirt and blouse ensemble, matched with a set of sensible heels, and topped off with a pearl necklace, and a pair of wire rim glasses... stood before the doors baring her entry.

Cinder: I...

The Beowulf pointed to a sign near the door, well a set of signs in fact. It took ever ounce of her will power to draw her eyes off the figure before her, and look at the signs.

(1) If the doors are closed there is either a meeting or session in progress. Unless it is an EMERGENCY no admittance.

(2) Sessions are by appointment ONLY.

(3) This is a ZERO TOLERANCE work place. Anyone causing a disturbance, or harassing staff will be asked to leave. Failure to do so will cause the authorities to be summoned.

(4) I am the boss, but my secretary is in charge. If she says NO then it's NO. There are no exceptions.

Cinder: Secretary?

The Beowulf nodded its head and using a metal ruler tapped the desk name plate.

Cinder: Grendelsa Grimmsald, Executive Assistant to Doctor Salem Salem?

The Beowulf who Cinder now knew was named Grendelsa nodded.

Cinder: But, I...

Grendelsa: *Grunt like growl*

Cinder: I know I don't have an appointment, but this is an emergency! The castle is under attack! I must speak to Queen...

Grendelsa: *Growl like grunt*

Cinder: I mean Doctor Salem.

Grendelsa pointed to a set of rather comfy looking waiting room chairs, and Cinder knew instantly she had no choice. So she sat down, and after a few seconds wiggled her butt into the plush cushioning getting more comfortable.

Cinder dozed off, and awoke with a start at the sound of the door opening.

Salem: I understand it is quiet the commute so I will have Grendelsa arrange for some accommodations for you, as in my opinion there is a need to have a few more sessions over the next week before I feel confident that we can space them out further. Is that acceptable Ms Schnee? Mr Arc?

Weiss: More than. Thank you for your hospitality, and all your help.

Cinder shot to her feet, her eyes wide in shock. Salem, her queen. Malevolent Evil Incarnate was in a black pant suit, wearing glasses and SHAKING HANDS with the SCHNEE who was holding the hand of the blond wanna-be knight from Beacon!

Jaune: I still don't...

Salem: It's alright Mr Arc. These things take time, and we progress at the pace that you set. There is no rushing this. Your mental health is very important, and with Ms Schnee's support and my assistance we will help you find resolutions.

Weiss: Can we give it a couple more sessions Jaune? I really do think this is good for you, me and us.

Jaune: Okay. I'll try a few more times.

Salem: Excellent. Grendelsa will make all the...

Cinder: WHAT THE FUCK IT THIS!!!!

Salem: Ms Fall. Those types of outbursts are not acceptable!

Cinder: WHAT THE FUCK, SALEM? THEY'RE FROM BEACON! THEY'RE YOUR ENEMIES!

Salem: Lower your voice or you will be escorted out.

Cinder: WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?!? ARE YOU GIVING THEM THERAPY???

Salem: You were warned Ms Fall. Ms Grimmslad if you please...

/==/

Twenty minutes later Cinder found herself sitting outside of the main gate of EverNight Castle, right next to Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, and Blake Belladonna.

Ruby: You get kicked out too?

Cinder: ...

[madkiska]

watching the entirety of jrwi: riptide again. here's some important things from the first few episodes that I feel we forgot (<110 mentions too though)

Jay

Had night terrors similar to those of Kubakinta's curse in episode 5, and they eventually start returning even after Loffinlot's curse is lifted ○ All of them were about her family and/or the navy ○ I simply think people leave her out of the nightmare stuff and she deserves it. Hurt her more, please (he said, lovingly)

was actually very upset at having to use her medal to get a Loffinlot rebellion to shut up ○ This could be because she didn't want them to guess she was a spy, but I choose to believe it's because she felt guilty

"If you're gonna be sailing with someone, you should have a good relationship with them. [nervous chuckle]." She says, while asking him for information about the Black Rose Pirates (ep. 10)

Said "thank god they didn't find me" after a nightmare about the navy attacking. Even when she was supposedly a spy, who one day would have to return to the navy ○ Very unclear if she was scared of her dad, or if it's because she was a secret spy so the navy would've just killed her

Rewatching, she was suspiciously into the plundering and gold and stuff. Like that was real sus. It doesn't fit her current character much

The only one among them who's gambled before

Chip

The entire thing literally starts off with Bizly holding a lit match

Called Gillion "Gill" and Jay "Sureshot" from an early stage

Was SO much more of a bastard. Lied to Gill constantly, didn't care about anything but the money, etc.

Had aggressive hand tremors alongside Jay's night terrors ○ Gill cures it with lay on hands

When he gets drunk married, they talk extensively about how he'd be released when he's dead. Welp.

They did actually break up and it was fine and they were still friends. They parted on good terms

Is really fucking good at chess ○ Beat Earl twice and Jay once. Jay had a point of exhaustion after a nightmare but Earl had no excuse ○ Lost to Gillion though, but only cause of prophetic screwup ○ This kid is smarter than he lets on, y'all

Was the first one to have a backstory dump while Jay is asking him about the Black Rose Pirates, yet still we know jack shit about his life before them other than "orphan"

Gill

Charlie has referred to Gillion with 'they' many times. I can pull receipts.

When describing Gill, Charlie said: "He's more.. elven, if you had to make a comparison. 'Cause I don't wanna be a fish guy". Oh, honey.

Smote a bald person by using his hair as a whip (ep. 4)

Was given anxiety and self-doubt alongside jay's night terrors and chip's tremors ○ "What do you want?" "I want the feeling of satisfaction I've been chasing my whole life." ○ This was episode FIVE.

First mention of the prophecy and how Gillion wasn't their ideal student is ep. 7, after he divine smites + prophetic screwups and deals like 60 damage to some beetles ○ Chip spends the next 30 seconds in gay awe

He refers to the crescent moon Niklaus tattoo as "my zodiac" (probably a bit) ○ It's not a lil basic white girl moon this thing is the entire size of his forearm

Gill had never heard about the Black Sea - it's unclear if the Undersea just don't know, or if that's just how sheltered he was (ep. 10)

Biz: "What would Gillion do. If he just had no goal - was just sitting there." "Gillion always has a goal." "Would his goal ever be to just.. Sit there?" "Absolutely not." ○ Later, Chip expresses that he doesn't know what Gillion likes. What he would want out of winning a bet. Gillion doesn't have an answer

Other

Apple, in a couple of early battles, acted like Gill's familiar (see: ep. 7)

They also pecked at his Niklaus tramp stamp and looked all confused at the idea of eating seeds

The specific crescent of the moon in the Niklaus tattoo is known as a symbol of "corruption" (ep. 9) and its antonym is the sun, for "life", similar to the yin and yang ○ Interesting to consider after what the tree said in 110 <_<

Pretzel has a masters degree in couple's therapy (ep. 10)

The Albatross/Millennium Chipper was described as the colour of rosewood or mahogany

Captain Lizzie's first introduction was a wanted poster, and Chip wanted to turn her in for the prize, then decided to try learn from her instead

Chip/Bizly called Old Man Earl "Erol" for a loooong time ○ Maybe it's an accent thing but I have an uncle called Erol and so this stands out to me

[neiptune]

hihi v ! i wanted to join your event with buche de noel + childe and prompt #3 ! also, the trope is opposites attract. i am pretty much the opposite in every aspect of him. we are literally golden retriever + black cat duo LMAO ! tysm for hosting this cute event :> 💝

childe x first christmas as a couple/family

“I’m not coming”.

Childe hums, not at all bothered by your pragmatic refusal.

“See, I knew you’d say that”, with the swift movement of lithe fingers, a letter appears in his hand and he offers a wink. “That’s why I already told them you are coming”.

Incredulous, you grab the letter from his hands and do everything in your power to ignore the double-edged sword that cheeky grin in your peripheral is. He’s not lying: the missive, signed by his older sister, conveys rather clearly how excited they are at the idea of you joining them for the holiday celebrations. A sudden dizziness worms its way into your limbs.

“What did you tell them?”, you don’t mean to sound so hostile but the urgency in your tone is hardly sufficient to express the frosty anxiety clutching your chest.

Childe’s gaze softens. Some might argue he had not been in your life as a lover long enough to catch on every inflection of your voice, to interpret every crease between the brows. Yet, he just knows. Despite a confident, often frivolous exterior and a thirst for battle that never subdues, his world never really stops revolving around those who are most dear to him. He’s always been a keen observer and he’ll be damned if he fails the test of noticing when the person he’s in love with is upset.

“Nothing”, because he wouldn’t dare share what you have layed bare in yet another display of genuine trust, “only that I would like to bring home someone who is very important to me. I’d like her to meet the people my heart is always with, my family”. He gently slips the letter from your shaky fingers and offers a smile, eyes warm with fondness.

“Oh, don’t do that”, you feel the guilt threatening to bubble up from your throat and swallow you whole, yet stubbornly push against it still.

“Do what?”.

Be so caring. Make me believe I’m worth all the fuss, every time.

“Will you die if we spend one christmas apart? Go enjoy it with your family. We don’t have to be together all the time, you know”, it’s painful, covering up traitorous fears that squeeze your heart with razor-edged remarks. You don’t want your presence, so different from his bubbly one, to be an imposition.

To your surprise, Childe bursts in vibrant laughter.

“Why, yes! I may in fact die if we are not together all the time, I already feel dangerously close to my own demise when I’m in Inazuma and you stay in Liyue!”, the infectious grin lights up his playful stare. You roll your eyes.

But then he takes your hand to gently press his lips to your knuckles, eyes never leaving yours.

“I write to them. About you, I mean. I have ever since meeting you”.

“What is there to write?”, it’s a genuine question. Your life is quite ordinary, far less exciting that the one of a Harbinger or a traveller, made of a calm routine, architecture and interior design projects you and Kaveh constantly exchange ideas over.

Childe furrows his brows.

“Everything. How you healed me when I couldn’t admit to myself that I needed someone’s help, the way you still take care of me. I write about the dishes you allow me to cook for you, the recipes I learned when we visited Sumeru. I told them all about how easy it was to fall for you”. He smiles again when he notices how flustered such simple, sincere words make you.

“Teucer really wants to see you again. He still remembers, you know? Won’t shut up about the nice lady who once found him by the harbor. Forget me but you’re really going to break a kid’s heart?”.

You deflate, sparing him a good natured glare that is met with a shameless wink. He wins, doesn’t he always?

“Fine”.

“It wouldn’t feel like home without you there”.

“Ajax, I already said yes!”, despite the mock exasperation in your voice, you’re smiling too. Because he wants you there and it doesn’t matter that it’s only your first christmas together as an official couple, it doesn’t matter that you can’t remember the last time you had someone to celebrate the holidays with. Let alone a family.

It doesn’t matter, because Childe loves you so much he’s eager for his family to love you too.

And so you hardly care that you had to pack to spend an entire week in the frozen nation of Snezhnaya, the small seaside village of Morepesok being as welcoming as an environment perpetually covered in ice can be. How can you even remember how much you hate the cold when, the minute you walk inside your lover’s childhood home, his father takes your hand in between his and greets you with so much warmth? Five minutes and you’ve been hugged by all three of Childe’s youngest siblings, Teucer being particularly keen on not letting go of your hand as his eldest sister guides you further inside the house. Ten minutes and you’re dressed in traditional Snezhnayan clothes, a necessary protection against the harsh climate outside, one not even locals like to face if they can avoid doing so. It takes several minutes to comprehend that Childe’s sister has made the clothes herself, just for you.

“So? What do you think?”, his eyes always carry a peculiar light you wish it could be bottled up to brighten dark nights, but it’s different now that he’s home. The joy in his stare is so intense your heart grows in size each time you meet that wondrous gaze.

“Well, it’s cold”, you tease, blunt. It makes him huff with impatience.

“About my family”.

“Oh, that”, you grin, “they’re really… loving”. It’s a word you don’t use lightly. You knew about familial relations carrying a special meaning in Snezhnaya, being so close is part of their culture. Yet, you weren’t prepared to feel all that warmth yourself, a stranger who was enveloped in their affectionate embrace right away. Even when Childe wasn’t there (you kindly but firmly refused to join him and his father on their ice fishing expeditions), his siblings never once left you alone or made you feel like an outsider. You spent days drinking tea, helping them cook so much borscht, you laughed when Tonia got flour on her nose while you were all in the process of preparing the dough for a good serving of pierogi.

It’s christmas eve, the only day you were shooed out of the house because guests are not allowed to help with the arrangements. It’s not like you don’t have a feeling it was just an excuse to grant you some time alone with him.

“They are. And now they love you, too”, his gloved hand playfully squeezes yours. You hum with a smile, the almost empty glass of Fire-Water making faint memories resurface. Back then, Childe didn’t know how bad you are at holding your liquor and once ended up having to patiently carry you home when you downed one too many shots, perhaps also too quickly.

As you observe the way Childe beams next to you, with his childlike glee, you’re once more reminded of how in love you are with him. While he never shies away from providing tangible proofs of his deep fondness, your house practically overflowing with letters and gifts in every size or shape, it feels like this is the most significant evidence you’ll ever get. Him wanting you where he doesn’t have to be Childe nor Tartaglia, the one place where he gets to wake up and be nothing more than a son and a brother. Here, where he drinks hot cocoa with tiny marshmallows and reads his younger siblings stories by the fireplace. Home, where there’s room for you as well from now on, a seat saved at a crowded table, the comfort of a couch illuminated by the colorful lights of a tree too big, one of the presents crammed underneath it carrying a tag with your name.

“And now I love them, too”, you whisper a little too quietly and his smile grows. “Thank you”.

“You never have to thank me. This is also your home now, my heart is yours and so is my family”.

“Ajax”, his name is coated with amusement but Childe recognizes a deep emotion behind the playful tone, one that matches his.

“Promise you’ll always spend christmas with us?”.

“I promise”.

“Pinky promise?”.

“Pinky promise”, you grin. He hums.

“You know what that means. You make a pinky promise, you keep it all your life”.

“I break that pinky promise, you throw me on the ice”.

“Damn right”, he grins, proud. When he kisses you, it feels like even the blizzard raging outside the pub would surrender to the prodigy that are his lips.

thank you for your generosity and for supporting @ficsforgaza. request a character + prompt here :)

[brucebocchi]

Ranking 2024 anime, Pt. 4: #20-11

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, and part 3 here. thanks!

You know, I'd really planned to keep my re-reviews much shorter but I'm finding it harder to do so when I get into the anime I actually liked. Maybe that's a good thing.

And away we go.

20. Solo Leveling

Portal isekai, sad loser secretly gains crazy powers and instantly becomes a stoic gigachad, menu screens everywhere, entry-level power fantasy. You’ve seen it before. Honestly, Solo Leveling is total slop. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If you’ve watched a couple isekai, like, ever, you’re not going to find much new here. There’s some interesting enough worldbuilding outside of the dungeon stuff; I did find myself intrigued by the degree to which this preponderance of portals would influence Korean economics and politics, and even moreso that much of the story so far revolves around how those corrupting powers can lead to hunters using dungeons as their own playgrounds for personal gain at others’ expense. There also seems to be a larger malefactor behind all of the menu screens driving protagonist Sung Jinwoo’s growth and titular leveling, so there’s the hook.

Even putting aside the few interesting parts of the otherwise boilerplate story, Solo Leveling both looks and sounds pretty darn good. The soundtrack is laden with Hiroyuki Sawano’s trademark build-ups and drops, and though the character art and dungeon designs aren’t always the most eye-catching (early on it did look like A-1 Pictures was going to default to “fuck it, we’re making money anyway” mode), the action animation goes absolutely bonkers in its best moments.

The second season is already up and running, and although I can barely remember anyone’s name outside of the protagonist (maybe that’s on me, I consume very little Korean media and am not great at retaining Korean names), I’m in this for the long haul. Great turn-your-brain-off action schlock.

19. Wind Breaker

At this point you could put a sign that says “DELINQUENT WITH A HEART OF GOLD” underneath a box-and-stick trap and I’d walk right in. I am not immune to your Josukes Higashikata, your Ryujis Sakamoto, what have you. The angry and violent type who will nevertheless stick up for what’s right and remain fiercely loyal to those they care about. Wind Breaker is rife with characters who fit that archetype, but it’s not exactly a delinquent anime so much as it’s a Dudes anime. More specifically, a Dudes Rock anime.

Yes, Wind Breaker’s ensemble cast is almost entirely Dudes, and they do indeed Rock. Protagonist Haruka is a self-inflicted outcast, and his tsundere ass does not appreciate all the positive attention he’s receiving after proving himself in street combat prior to his transfer to an all-delinquents high school. Nevertheless, he wants to fight his way to the top of his new environment, and if that means sticking up for the little guy along the way, all the better. 

I love that Wind Breaker’s overarching messages of self-improvement and helping the weak without expecting a reward are basically anathema for the base power fantasies that largely come from light novels over the past decade and change, but even moreso that Haruka, loner that he is, keeps having to learn that he’s not going to get anywhere without surrounding himself with the right people and relying on their support. Battle shonen are usually pretty blatant with this stuff, but to see it spelled out so clearly in a series like this just hits right.

Wind Breaker looks terrific at just about every step, too. Every single thing I’ve seen from CloverWorks from the past few years has been a bop, which makes it that much more maddening that this is the studio that bungled the Persona 5 anime and supposedly botched The Promised Neverland in its second season. I get that not everything works out as planned sometimes but I find myself waiting for the other shoe to drop sometimes. I’m glad it’s been smooth so far, at least. Some pacing issues and a weird place to end the show, but I know for a fact I'll be there when this comes back in spring.

18. Laid-Back Camp, season 3

I am not immune to the Cute Girls Doing Cute Things genre, and when all is said and done I think Yuru Camp could very well stand alone at the top. A show this directly responsible for the uptick in camping culture and countryside tourism in Japan clearly holds some sway over pop culture, and it’s clearly deserved.

Returning to the present day after the 2022 film gave us a look at the Outdoor Club in adulthood, Yuru Camp’s third season gives us exactly what we wanted: More of the same. We largely focus on the solo expeditions of Rin, Nadeshiko, and the latter’s hometown friend Ayano as they trek to their collective meetup spot, and as the seasons change we get the entire gang together for some springtime hanami. It’s cute, it’s funny, it’s whimsical, it’s Yuru Camp. You know what you’re getting into at this point.

With studio Eightbit taking over the series in its third season, Yuru Camp still largely looks the same, and wonderfully so, but it can be a bit off at times: CGI vehicles look far more distractingly out-of-place, and for as gorgeous as the background art was in the first two seasons and movie, it can come across as a bit more uncanny this time out. I don’t know whether some of the shots of sakura branches were traced or run through some kind of AI post-processing from archival photos, and I hate to speculate on that, but given that this is the same studio that bafflingly under-animates the money printer that is Blue Lock, I can’t exactly put it past them.

Production quibbles aside, I can’t really complain about more Yuru Camp. It’s a bit lighter on plot than previous seasons, but this is a series that was light on plot to begin with. We get to spend time with these goofs, learn about camping and the Japanese countryside, and then maybe go touch grass ourselves. That’s a good message for a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things series to have: Go do your own cute things.

17. NieR: Automata Ver. 1.1a, part 2

The second half of this adaptation was going to be the metric by which fans of the 2017 action-RPG judged the whole work. The first half in 2023, covering the game’s A and B routes, was a solid if troubled production that did a good job of covering the narrative and action, even implementing surprising easter eggs from NieR Replicant along the way. Sloppy CGI integration in early episodes and a COVID-induced delay hampered things, though, so there were some nerves about the show’s return.

Any fears were quickly allayed once the second half of the series began, covering the real meat of the story in routes C-E. Ver. 1.1a immediately looked exceptional, with expressive character animation and fluid action sequences. Real pathos was instilled into the route’s early tragedies. Most welcome of all was the serious work put into expanding A2’s character and role in the story (as well as her backside). It felt like she’d gotten the short end of the stick narratively in the game, so it felt right to spend more time with her, tie her story in the present back to the past that was hinted at in the Resistance flashbacks, and just get to see her be a tsundere a couple times. I’m gonna have to go back and rewatch the whole series dubbed because I just know Cherami Leigh crushed it.

I’m of two minds about Ver. 1.1a as a whole: On one hand, this is just about as good an adaptation of the game as we probably could have gotten. On the other, a big part of what makes the NieR games’ narratives work so well comes from the fact that they could pretty much only be told through the framework of a video game. While Ver. 1.1a does a perfectly fine job of delivering the game’s narrative and providing its own take on the game’s extremely video-game-y ending, much of what makes NieR’s tragedies so impactful is the player’s agency (and occasional lack thereof) in these matters. 

Nothing can replace actually playing NieR: Automata as a means of experiencing its story, but Ver. 1.1a is a darn good companion piece, and one that may even hint at the future of the Drakengard/NieR franchise. Now if only Yoko Taro would focus on something other than gacha games and death game anime for two seconds…

16. Train to the End of the World

The writer/director duo behind Squid Girl came back to give us one of the best and most bizarre original anime this year. Train to the End of the World is overtly and unapologetically weird, and that’s the way I like ‘em.

This weird and wonderful trek across a warped and wildly varied landscape dazzles the eyes and rots the brain in unexpected ways, but it’s a stellar character comedy through and through. Shuumatsu Train’s oddball protagonists are goofy, galaxy-brained, and sometimes flat-out mean in ways that only teenage girls can be. The dialogue is expertly written and some of the punchiest I’ve ever seen in anime. The girls bicker, mess with strangers, and engage in the kinds of inane conversations you only have when you’re the most bored you’ve ever been in your life.

While rarely laugh-out-loud funny, Train to the End of the World is intrinsically hilarious. The sheer absurdity on display is the kind that leaves you just shaking your head in disbelief. One episode they’re playing House of the Dead to get out of a real-life zombie situation, and in another they’re acting out their favorite fictional anime that you, the viewer, are just expected to know about already. It’s a stupid show in the smartest ways; a classical Homerian epic with ruminations on the future, but also one where the girls threaten to wipe out a Lilliputian colony by peeing on it. It’s both eschatological and scatological. With the recent discourse over modern adaptations and interpretations of The Odyssey, this anime might as well be the nuclear option.

Train to the End of the World was a standout in a strong spring season, but it didn’t shake out super high in a long and darn good year of anime. That’s fine and all, but I really hope it ends up attaining the cult hit status it seemed destined for. 

15. Mayonaka Punch

This one had been distant on my radar for a couple of weeks after it premiered, but as soon as I found out it was a P.A. Works original, I picked it up immediately. Any original series by the studio that gave us Akiba Maid War’s glorious gut-wrenching insanity (as well as last year’s exceptional Skip and Loafer adaptation) is going to get my attention, and although Mayonaka Punch doesn’t quite reach the same highs as Akiba Maid War, it does try to match the latter’s most madcap moments.

I don’t have a better pitch than “Canceled YouTuber starts up a new channel with a house full of lesbian vampires,” nor do I really need one. Mayonaka Punch’s comedy largely revolves around the personality clash between the disaffected, avoidant Masaki and the pushy, hyperactive Live (who definitely wants Masaki for more than just her blood), but the whole cast is a riot. Throwing in a baby day trader, a taciturn fujoshi, and a big-titty pachinko fiend are just the right spices to make this a particularly tasty stew.

Chaos naturally ensues, and watching these women try to channel it into a successful YouTube channel is an easy recipe for comedy. Everyone has terrific chemistry and I was rapt with attention every time we got to learn more about each of these vampire girls’ history. What came as a huge surprise, though, was how potent some of the emotional hits ended up, even when it involved characters outside of the main pairing. The fact that the biggest one came in just the fourth episode was a masterstroke; I was already on board for the comedy but just like that I was fully invested in a character other than the one who wants to suck the protagonist dry. I’m not rephrasing that.

This one absolutely deserves to be a cult classic, and the door is left open just maddeningly enough at the end that I can only pray for more. Mayonaka Punch is a boatload of fun and deserves way more attention than it’s gotten. You can change that. Right now. Watch this show.

Prior to writing this, Fairouz Ai (Live’s voice actress and a huge presence in a handful of the shows I’ve already discussed) announced that she would be taking a hiatus from VA work following a PTSD diagnosis. I wish her all of the time, recovery, and support she needs.

14. Urusei Yatsura (2022), season 2

The opening salvo in the ongoing Rumiko Takahashi revival (weird thing to say about a mangaka who’s still alive and working, I know) returned this year for the second half of its “all-stars” run, marathoning us through retellings of the classic manga’s greatest hits, the oddest of its many oddballs, and its spectacular, heartfelt conclusion. More Lum is always a good thing.

I’ve written plenty about Urusei Yatsura’s remake following each cour except the first, and I don’t have much more to add at this point. It’s a classic for a reason and it laid the foundations for dozens of jokes, tropes, and standards that are fundamental to comedy in anime to this day. Even when some of the jokes may come off as trite or tropey, it’s easy to see just how and why it made Takahashi so successful. The exaggerated slice-of-life hijinks, outsized slapstick, and time-and-space surrealness are just as much of a treat as the deep, eclectic cast. And to top it all off, here’s Ataru and Lum being a couple of freaks who deserve each other.

Even though the 46-episode run certainly feels truncated compared to the 191 episodes, six films, and ten OVAs that came before it, David Production did a fine job of putting a modern touch on such a classic work and highlighting its strengths. And even though most of the run was an abridged run through the greatest hits, I’m really glad the studio made sure to dedicate the last few episodes to the manga’s final arc, bringing Lum and Ataru together in a beautiful and (briefly) satisfying climax.

And even for as satisfying as that ending was, it was nearly overshadowed by…

13. Ranma ½ (2024)

…the revival of Takahashi’s biggest hit.

Yes, right on the heels of the ending of the remake of her landmark romcom classic, came the announcement that her even BIGGER landmark romcom classic was also getting a remake. Ranma ½ is one of the hallmarks of 90s anime writ large, working late-80s Japan’s fascination with Chinese martial arts (partially due to Dragon Ball’s success) into a romantic-comedy framework that also accidentally served as the genesis of the harem genre. I’d somehow never actually engaged with Ranma prior to the remake, so I was happy to get in on a new ground floor and I was immediately sold.

As the youngest daughter of the Tendo Dojo, Akane Tendo is put in a predicament when her father betrothes her (at her sisters’ urging) to his friend’s son, Ranma Saotome. Though both are skilled fighters and a good match in that regard, Akane is a bit of a hothead and doesn’t much care for boys, so she’s not a fan of this arrangement, but it’s made all the more bizarre by the fact that Ranma is also a girl sometimes. Thanks to a bizarre accident in China, Ranma turns into a girl when soaked with cold water and back into a boy when hit with hot water. Shenanigans ensue as Ranma and Akane’s contentious relationship hits innumerable peaks and valleys, all the while fighting off an ever-growing menagerie of powerful, fight-happy suitors gunning for the hands and lips of Akane and both versions of Ranma.

MAPPA of all studios being the one to re-adapt Ranma came as a surprise, and you probably could’ve convinced me David Production took over this Takahashi adaptation as well. Ranma’s remake adopts several of the same visual flairs you’d see in Urusei Yatsura, including the Ben Day dots, color inversions, and manga-style onscreen onomatopoeias. On the other hand, while most of the moment-to-moment character animation is pretty much what you’d expect from any given anime, several of the action sequences are very well-animated to MAPPA’s typically high standard. I just hope the animators weren’t getting the Chainsaw Man or Jujutsu Kaisen treatment.

Ranma ½ is as hilarious as ever, but it can get a little wonky thematically when it comes to gender politics, boundaries, and expectations, as I’d been made aware before ever engaging with the work. I also knew from the Urusei Yatsura remake that this was basically Takahashi’s wheelhouse, as there are a couple of pretty genderbendy characters in there as well. Several of the male antagonists in Ranma are more than a little pushy when it comes to women who catch their eye, and a lot of the humor around Ranma’s gender swaps revolves around how their male socialization affects the lack of modesty with which they present their female form (more on that later). People who are much better versed in gender matters than myself, both academically and personally, can speak on the positives and negatives of these things much better than I can, and it’s too early in the series for me to really make a judgment call. I do think it’s odd, though, that even with the central romance, Akane doesn’t seem to remotely entertain the thought of getting involved with Ranma’s female side, and unfortunately I don’t really see that ever happening. So far, all of these things just come across as flat-out silly and more of a product of its time than anything nefarious. 

The original Ranma ½ adaptation remains a seminal work for a solid generation and a half of anime fans, so of course a remake was going to be met with some criticism. Some didn’t appreciate the more muted color palette compared to the late 80s/early 90s Studio Deen version, and while it’s certainly missing some of the flair of the hand-painted backgrounds and saturated lighting effects the medium has missed since that era, I personally like the softer hues; I find them a lot more reminiscent of Rumiko Takahashi’s own colorations for her art outside of the manga. It’s not as technicolor as the Urusei Yatsura remake, but I think that actually helps set the new Ranma apart rather than riding the former’s coattails.

The main difference people seem to be complaining about, however, has more to do with boobs. Takahashi has never been shy about including nudity in her manga, and in an era where uncensored bazongas were perfectly fine to publish in boys’ manga magazines, she was typically more matter-of-fact about the female form instead of pursuing titillation. As such, a story like Ranma’s, in which its title character is typically blase about presenting their female incarnation modestly, had a lot to work with on that front, and the original anime played along.

Not so with the MAPPA version. Nipples are conspicuously missing in scenes that legitimately do call for nudity, and an ass crack appears to be missing from an early scene as well. Personally, I don’t mind the Barbie doll treatment, and as I’d been reading the manga as the anime’s story progressed, I didn't find all that much missing in the transition from page to screen. Weebs tend to convince themselves they’re the most oppressed people on earth, so of course there were cries of censorship, which is a claim I don’t really care to entertain. These are different times, broadcast regulations in Japan are almost certainly different from what they were 35 years ago, and Netflix and/or MAPPA likely didn’t see the need for it. Could be any of those things. I’m not losing sleep over it.

And with that, I’m done talking about Rumiko Takahashi (for now). I’m grateful for everything related to her work, even tangentially, that came out this year, and my life is richer for it. I’m glad to have gotten into her work in earnest this year, and I can say with all conviction (hot take incoming) that she’s one of the greatest mangaka ever. I look forward to diving further into even more of her work.

12. The Elusive Samurai

I’d have been perfectly happy if Wind Breaker had been CloverWorks’ only beautifully-animated oddball shonen hit this year, and then they went and outdid themselves the very next season with this one.

The Elusive Samurai is a gorgeous, timeless-looking piece of historical fiction beginning at the very end of the Kamakura period, following the last survivor of the Hojo clan, the young Tokiyuki, as he’s urged by an eccentric priest to lead a pack of freedom fighters and take revenge. Despite coming from a prominent family within the shogunate, Tokiyuki was an impertinent kid and preferred to play hide-and-seek instead of attending any combat training. The priest, Yorishige, receives a vision of the future that predicts that Tokiyuki will fell his family’s usurper not by becoming a powerful warrior, but by doing what he’s already best at: Being a squirrelly little shit.

I just gushed about how good this show looks three months ago, and even now I’m thinking back fondly on how well it blends whimsy with brutality. You can have Yorishige and the kids goofing off and cracking jokes one minute and vibrant crimson beheadings the next. Even little Tokiyuki makes a joyful game out of slicing a bandit’s veins to ribbons later in the season. It feels like a callback to anime films and OVAs of the 80s, with the film grain effect to match. Almost every single thing about this show looks and sounds incredible.

Of course, there’s the CGI. I really don’t like complaining about that sort of thing, but it was such a blatant and unnecessary cost-cutting move that it almost cheapens the rest of the show. Look, I get that horses can be a pain to hand-animate after a while, but having characters’s CGI models speaking while riding on horseback is just enough to take me out of the show, especially when they already look as bizarre as, say, Sadamune. How that passed muster with the rest of the show’s standard is beyond me.

So, maybe I did dock it a spot or two for that, but I see that as a wrinkle that can be ironed out. The Elusive Samurai is absurdly promising, and its debut season is a tremendous statement. Can’t wait for more.

11. Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!

As I made clear last year by putting 100 Girlfriends’ debut season in my top ten for 2023, for as much as I love a good straight-up romance story, I have ample room in my heart for trashy dipshit romcoms as well. Makeine shares that affection and forges its own identity from it, establishing its own throne atop a hill of garbage.

This is not a “yeah it’s good if you can look past the tropes” show. Makeine is firmly on its bullshit, and it is firmly about its bullshit. It’s not nearly as off-the-wall as 100 Girlfriends, few shows are, but it’s well aware of your expectations and leaves you guessing whether you’ll have them expertly subverted or just thrown right back in your face. Even the protagonist, the light novel fanatic Nukumizu, is calling out the tropes as they happen, but it’s been a fun time watching him learn that he’s more than just a wet-blanket LN protagonist. He thinks he’s just along for the ride like any other blank-faced self-insert in these stories, only to get roped into the personal lives of these poor girls and learn that, yes, they are real people and that, yes, he is too.

I could go on and on about Too Many Losing Heroines’ idiosyncrasies and offbeat characters and punchy dialogue, but I did that plenty just a few months ago. Instead, I want to call attention once more to just how freakishly well-made this show is. A-1 Pictures had zero reason to go this hard on a goofy, trashy light novel romcom adaptation, and yet here they were, throwing their A-team at the whole project. Character animations are intricate, background art is sumptuous, lighting effects immaculate, and music on point at all times. The OP is an earworm (and one of a surprising number of ska intros and outros I’ve taken in this year), and having each of the main titular heroines perform her own story-appropriate ED was a masterstroke. Even the visual gags are perfect and allowed to land on their own.

I already cannot wait for more of this. If A-1 has given us all we’re going to get of the Kaguya-sama anime, then I’m as all-in on Makeine as they are. Not the best romcom out there, but easily one of the best-made out there.

[thankskenpenders]

I know Ken is notorious for his, um, odd creation habits, but even I’m shocked that it’s been over 10 years of work and THIS is all he has to show for it. I would maybe be a bit more lenient if each new page was hyper detailed or something like that, but as you pointed out in your review, he reused the same images across plenty of panels and so many of his backgrounds are just stock photos. The only way I can reconcile this to myself is wondering if maybe a bunch of that time was eaten up by extensive rewrites to his plans for the whole series, but even then, I’ll be even more shocked if the next volume ever comes out.

So I didn't get into this in the review because I really just wanted to focus on the book and the weird copyright situation that led to its creation, not Ken's personal life or his other endeavors, but he did make something else in the time since The Lara-Su Chronicles' announcement 13 years ago. That being his independent film: The Republic. Because after he left Archie Ken figured he'd move on to a career in Hollywood.

I think this was originally supposed to be a TV show, the pilot episode for which was released in 2010, but then in 2016 he decided to retool it as a commentary on Trump's immigration policies. I think the movie is still somehow not out despite being shot a few years ago, but he put out a trailer here:

Yes, the trailer really opens with 30 seconds of footage of Trump from CNN. I know writers who use subtext and they're all cowards etc. etc.

At least the cast is clearly trying their best in spite of the material. It's not Birdemic bad. And yes, that's Sean Young. THE Sean Young! Rachael from Blade Runner! I guess Ken's really eager to flex the fact that he's friends with a couple lower-level Hollywood producers.

Anyway, I think he's still looking for a distributor for this. It's truly a mystery why no one was eager to pick this up.

Ken's also said some stuff about how he waited years to put out TLSC: Beginnings as part of the 4D chess game he's playing with the copyright stuff. He has a general idea of what he can do based on the terms of the settlement, but he's eager to push it as far as he can. He tested the waters with things like a few small pieces of TLSC merch and an NFT announcement, to see if Sega would take legal action. In particular, the announcement that he was going to sell an NFT of Shade from Sonic Chronicles was a stunt designed to see if Sega would challenge his claim that Shade is legally the same character as Julie-Su. Since they haven't gone after him, and now it's been a few years, he's taking that as evidence that Sega isn't actively exercising those copyrights and isn't going to fight for this stuff.

There's some logic here. Part of the reason Dan DeCarlo lost his battle with Archie over the rights to Josie and the Pussycats is that he didn't take action against them sooner for making merch and whatnot. It's "use it or lose it" with copyrights. But it mostly just comes off as an excuse. If it was purely a waiting game and he had all this extra time, why did he need to recycle art so much in Beginnings? Why is he only releasing 30 new pages of material instead of a whole graphic novel? Where's the app? Why didn't he spellcheck the damn book?

[dcdreamblog]

do you have any tidbits about the Red Bee? I heard he died decades ago but I also saw some people claiming that he showed up a few years back helping that Peacemaker guy

Depending on someone's level of familiarity his entire life is a fun tidbit but I will do my best.

(Art piece of The Red Bee that adorns one wall of the Superior City Historic Society) Richard "Rick" Raleigh would have appeared to anyone who knew him as the most stand up kind of guy that existed at that time. The assistant DA in the booming pacific port town of Superior City. His only major quirk was a fascination with bees but hey, everyone has to have a hobby right? No one knows for sure what caused his turn to crime fighting, as I've stated before it really was just something in the air during those days. If people like The Sandman and The Atom could do it, and make the jackals preying on vulnerable communities shiver, then anyone would with the right willpower.

His abilities were modest. A motorcycle, a "stinger gun" (which in reality was just a souped up BB pistol but sting it did indeed do) and his secret weapon. A trained bee named Michael. Those of you who do not know this story just balked at that. How does one train a bee? Don't bees live like, two months at best? I need you to look at me when I tell you a couple of things and then the best guess we have. I am NOT fucking with you. 1. That bee is still alive, and has recently reunited with Raleigh's time displaced sidekick. 84 years after Raleigh's debut. Michael sat, and waited until Ladybug returned to the honey farm where he was housed and upon her return instantly flew up to her acting with direct recognition of the young woman after 8 decades.

2. Michael is able to sting multiple times without any ill effects on his person. (Bee-son. You know what I mean) Our best guess? The bee has a metagene.

A random mutation in this seemingly random worker bee has given it, what is from its perspective superhuman abilities of intellect, longevity and invulnerability. It is a theory because under no circumstances are we ever going to get to find out unless for some god forsaken reason the two heirs to Raleigh's estate pass it off to science when and if it does finally die.

Perhaps the discovery OF Michael's abilities were of partial inspiration for Raleigh's career. Truly we may never know.

Raleigh himself died in a battle with Nazi war criminal Baron Blitzkrieg in 1944, distracting the Baron long enough for his teammates in the Freedom Fighters to free themselves and turn the tide of battle. His memorial rests in Raleigh Park, Superior City for those curious. Note that it is a somber place of respect, those who have gone in an attempt to trivialize or joke on Raleigh's legacy have found themselves suspiciously targeted by the park's many large bee hives. The local superstition is that Michael has made it clear to all his fellows in the thousands of following generations who made their undisturbed home possible. (The park was built and is now maintained by the Raleigh estate, currently in the name of Raleigh's grand niece Jenna Raleigh and the descendants of the Rivera family who owned the honey farm where Michael was born) To this day, in Superior City, is considered very bad luck to harm a bee. And the city's annual Pollination Parade is held on Raleigh's birthday in July.

[styluswritesdc]

How about Rogues Headcannons about the Vigilant who has every right to be a villain ? One day, Rogues see Vigilant without their mask, their suit and theres a lot of scars on their body and face. Vigilant open up about their rought past. They choose to be a hero because they believe no innocent deserve to suffer like they did. They want to make the world a better place for everyone.

I wasn't sure which rogues you wanted specifically so I wrote a little on the reactions of a couple. thank you for your request!! if I left anyone out in particular you'd like me to discuss just shoot me another ask x

Two-face/Harvey dent:

oh okay well... fair enough!

genuinely their only thought, they aren't put off by your scars, I mean look at them!

if anything like the others they find it admirable.

they also admire these morals of yours, they are all about morals.

they respect your dedication to protecting those who cant protect themselves. that's what they used to stand for. they used to defend and represent people like that too.

if anyone gets it, Harv and Harvey do.

Riddler/Edward Nygma

ugh really?? you want to protect those mindless idiots? sigh..

he's probably deduced some of this already, whether its by seeing glimpses of your scars somehow or even being able to tell by how you talk about justice that those are your morals.

if he knew your identity before this he would have looked you up and found any form of information on your past. he probably knows what happened.

he would be worried about how these morals will now effect your blossoming friendship/relationship

Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane

oh.. he feels a slight and uncharacteristic.... pity.. for you. only for the pain you've experienced. he understands what trauma can do. he admires who you are now though, don't get him wrong.

he sees you as his rival... so naturally you will have to be steely in your nature and mentality.

Jonathan believes somewhat he's helping people get over their fears but understands that most of the time he simply breaks minds for fun like a child pulling the wings off of a fly.

he hopes you don't see him as the terrifying monster he portrays to others.

Killer croc/Waylon Jones

oh you're hot- I MEAN-

he thinks they're hot too... your morals I mean!

he admires how you fight for the little guy.. he would've killed for someone to do that for him in his past.

hell, that's how he first fell for you. you treated him with respect and protected him from the harsh words of others.

he wouldn't think anything different of you, just that you had more in common than he could've ever known.

Clayface/Basil Karlo

oh! he's practically swooning. you're like every great hero in a film. battle-scarred and hardy. worn from war but still having a code of steel. no one can sway you from you ideals and he finds that oh so cool!

he's almost like a fan girl. he wants to be the damsel in distress, clutching his pearls while you rescue him.

in all seriousness though, he does hold you to that effect now. he really does admire you for all you've been who and who you've become.

Bane

probably the most heart-warming and flustering reaction of: "you are a great warrior. someone who has persevered through strife and come out with a scar to memorialise each battle. this is a great thing. I respect you greatly."

LIKE HELLO?! isn't that just the hottest reaction ever??

he practically beams with pride when he sees your scars. and even more when he hears your story.

whether romantic or just a comradery he is proud that you've shown this side of you to him. he feels privileged.

Harley Quinn

the female version of "who did this to you 😔💔"

she's rearing to go!! just tell her who did this and they'll get a bat to the face!!- okay okay she'll calm down...begrudgingly.

she loves those morals.. so heroic!! she could practically swoon. she's such a romantic so she really respects this aspect of you.

she understands from a psychology point of view how difficult this was.. coming forward and revealing this deep and secret part of yourself.

despite being a loudmouth, your secret is safe with her.

[mitsuas-priv]

Hello it's me again 🌹🎀 I must say that I saw your post that you had made and I loved how you wrote it, you have some talent ✨ I had this thought a few days ago, I saw myself again of an anime Magical Girls (Precure, although in English the adaptations of two of its anime franchises are called Glitter Force) And I was wondering if I could make a request for A female reader who is a magical girl (Precure or Sailor moon) and is in a relationship with Izuku Midoriya (It would be fun to know how they would get along their relationship).

And no thanks for the other request! You are the most never forget.

: 🌹🎀

Hiii 🌹🎀!!! Thank you so much for your support! I wholeheartedly appreciate it!

Ohh, this is probably gonna sound weird but I've actually never watched a whole series involving magical girls... sure I watched a couple of Sailor Moon's episodes but I preferred something else so never got to engage with them too long. However—this request definitely made me re-think about my choices and I'll most probably go watch some when I can! Soo, enough rambling—hope you enjoy this headcanons!

With an S/o who's a Magical Girl

Warnings: none Genre: fluff

Series: Boku No Hero Academia Pairing: Izuku Midoriya × FEM! Y/N

Words' count: 0.50k

Better be prepared when he first sees your transformation! Undoubtedly will stare in awe and probably malfunction for a while, so if you got a sparring match of any kind, you could have some advantage hehe.

He can't help it! All those sprinkles and the sudden glow coming from your body flabbergasts him—the dress that could or could not reveal some parts of your body shocks him more. Nevertheless, he really loves your costume so much and makes sure to let you know while he is interviewing you about your power's benefits and drawbacks.

Even when you're one of the best couples in the Heroes' world after getting your official license, he can't help sometimes but admire you as you get into your matching clothes.

You carry your special weapon everywhere, it helps you to transform quicker and Izuku notices quickly along the way. That's something he gotta do since he's been witness and victim of villains attacks and without the proper equipment close to him, he may get more hurt at the end of the battle. (Like without the red gloves All Might's niece did for him.)

So, after asking you how it works or you lending it to him to investigate it, he may be able to come up with some device that adjusts to his necessities so you both are never caught unprepared on the streets.

That's something else, the eye public has on you. They've been supportive ever since you decided to announce your engagement with Izuku.

Everyone thinks you're the cutest couple ever!

They've got clips of battles when Izuku's mouth is slightly agape as he watches from behind you as you transform and—in the other way around when you smile profoundly when he activates his power and his whole body starts glowing green. Yeah, definitely made for each other.

If you have a maskot, whatever creature they might be, they give you both that sense of comfort and normality while spending quality time in your shared home.

You spend mornings cuddling and when your maskot sees you two, they go straight to enjoy your warmth when they settle between you two on the bed.

On a sad side, you two know how painful it is to watch the other get or be injured. Of course you do your best on the battle fields to end up victorious and smile comfortingly to everyone, alas, it's not always possible.

Izuku went through a spiral of thoughts when you were deciding to be a couple of active heroes. If you ever decide to for a family, he might have gone further than just a spiral of thoughts—instead suffering anxiety and insomnia as only fatal outcomes kept on appearing on his dreams.

He may try to disuade your idea to keep protecting people when you do get a family together, but if you stay strong you will come with a resolution that would work perfectly.

You two would undoubtedly make history as the 'glowing couple' because of your quirks!

All writings' rights reserved © 2024 Mitsua. (Credit to the respective owners of the base idea, picture and tagged anime character.) ⌇ my navigation!

[sanjisboyfie]

๑ keep safe : crimson red icicles (9)

one piece x male reader

chances in my veins,

i'm running out of time 

『 prev 』

tw: slight gore (?), self-inflicted wounds

as they were running up the mountain, sanji and luffy were taking part in a very childish conversation. [name] wished he had the energy to be apart of it, but with the way he felt as if his insides were turning into solid ice, he refrained.

he was really, really, really bad in extreme cold climates, same went for hot climates too.

his body wasn’t made to deal with that type of stuff. and it was annoying that he was made like that because now his face felt as if it were completely frozen. his feet, even though they were angrily running across the snowy biome, felt heavier than ever before — the feeling in them was completely gone too.

then finally they came across what dalton warned them about: a lapin.

sparing time for a fight against such a small creature was out of the question. they had no time to waste and they all collectively ignored and dodged it whenever it tried deterring or attacking them.

thankfully, sanji took care of it as quickly as possible. but a part of [name] did feel bad to hear the poor thing cry out in pain from the kick.

[name] grit his teeth as his eyes narrowed at the terrain ahead. it seemed that attacking a lapin was inevitable as now, the three of them stood in front of what seemed to be a whole army of rabbits.

he could make out their figures if he squinted hard enough, his jaw really set in place as he sensed just how many were really out.

“huh? what are those?” luffy said, eyes wide as he saw the sheer size of the rabbits.

“they’re even bigger than polar bears, it looks like,” [name] added on, grunting as he adjusted the grip he had on nami to make sure she was completely secure, getting into a stance that showed he was ready for a fight.

“so this is the size of a pack of them?!” sanji said in annoyance, clicking his tongue at the inconvenience.

“luffy, sanji, do you know what this means?” [name] checked, looking at the two out of the corner of his eyes, “i’m counting on you guys, okay,”

“what? what do you mean by that?”

“idiot, he obviously means that we do all the fighting, nami-san can’t get anymore injured than she is right now! if [name] does anything to fight them back or if he takes any hits, nami-san will feel everything! so you and i have to take on all the fights, understand?!”

luffy took a second to process it before nodding his head, “alright, [name] leave it to us!”

“i will, now let’s get running,” [name] said, dodging one of the bunnies that tried attacking him, and running off to the side.

he didn’t look back once, knowing that he only had to worry about what was ahead of him and that luffy and sanji were trustworthy enough to take care of whatever was behind him.

he ran and dodged a couple of bunnies that were ahead, jumping on a couple of them for a height leverage and made sure that nami was secure anytime that he could.

unfortunately, it seemed that the battle would only grew to be more aggressive the higher they went and [name] was really feeling it to his core now. his breathing was coming out completely white, his face was becoming even more red at its high points and his legs felt like lead.

but for nami’s life, he knew that he had to push forward.

when they ran through many lapins that were standing in their way, [name] thought they’d have a break from being chased down, but his assumptions were wrong. when he thought they were in the clear, there was a shroud of lapins that were awaiting them. they looked like an intimidating white shadow over the horizon.

“i’m about to take care of them myself,” [name] said, trying to control his chattering teeth.

“no! no way!” sanji rebuked.

“i’m a long distance fighter anyway, it’s alright if i take care of some!” [name] said, his patience wearing incredibly thin, “there’s no way we can fight all of them individually, the more we run the more off course we get…if this keeps up, i can’t guarantee nami’s safety!”

“stop trying to jinx things! just leave it to us for now!” sanji said, wanting to fight against [name] participating in fights for as long as possible.

“if they get too close, i can’t guarantee that i will!” [name] shot back, watching carefully as the lapins started to jump up and down. it seemed as if there was no point to their repetitive jumping, but [name] put two and two together: if you assumed they weren’t up to anything, they’d definitely be doomed.

so he stiffened to brace for something to happen.

and when the snow that was far ahead began to crumble towards them, his fists clenched at his sides.

“you’re fucking with me right now!” he shouted out into the snowy abyss, recognizing the signs of an avalanche right away.

he had an idea of how to get away, but he didn’t know if it’d be healthy to use it with nami’s condition. he knew his body could take it, but if nami would even survive him using it once, it was unknown.

so he wouldn’t use soru, he decided. because even if it was conveinent for him to use to get away, if nami’s health could be in an even more compromised position, he wouldn’t risk it.

“the only option is to run, let’s go, both of you!” [name] commanded, adjusting nami once more and hoping that the ropes would stay completely tight. he had to free his hands, use them to gain the most momentum when running away. he couldn’t securely have his arms around her.

he knew that the rope he tied was effective, but having his arms to support her legs was still a comfort he wasn’t exactly the most prepared to give up. the snow was quickly approaching so he cleared his mind and only focused on running.

sanji and luffy were close behind and eventually, he caught sight of a cliff. sanji had the same idea in mind because he soon directed them to all take advantage of the height.

the three all stood at the edge of the cliff, but [name] quickly realized it would be enough. they weren’t high enough.

[name] grit his teeth, ripping off one of his gloves with his canines, spat it out, and took a dagger out from the sheath that was resting on his hip. he stabbed into his palm with no hesitation, gritting his teeth and watched as the blood spurted out.

“oi, [name] what the hell are you doing?!” sanji cried out, watching in horror as [name] maimed himself and also at the approaching avalanche.

“hey! [name]!” luffy shouted in shock, eyes going wide and almost completely white.

[name] ignored them and stabbed himself once more in the arm to cause more blood to gush out of his wound. after putting the dagger away, he grabbed luffy and sanji by their collars with his clean hand and timed his jump with the avalanche.

the trio were completely vulnerable in the air, but [name] quickly thought fast and held the two close to him. he made sure he was facing the ground and focused on the blood spilling from his arm as he held his bleeding and wounded arm in front of him.

“come on, you fucker!” [name] shouted at no one in particular, “i know it’s cold enough, so this shit better work!”

“[name]’s gone crazy!” luffy shouted, looking at him in disbelief.

“luffy, sanji, nami!” [name] shouted, getting ready to time his “creation” correctly, “please pardon the mess!”

the two looked at him in confusion but their eyes widened drastically when they noticed what was going on.

the blood [name] had let dribble down and spurt out of his arm was turning solid underneath them. it was even taking shape. a large sled, the ones that a person would use as a child, was created and solidified underneath them. it wasn’t fancy, just a smooth tube for them to ride to glide down the mountain without suffocating due to snow.

“you two, grab ahold of me — watch out for nami!” [name] commanded, sticking his entire bleeding arm into the snow. he shouted at the pain that shot up his arm, but continued to keep his limb implanted inside.

out of nowhere, the crafted sled turned to the side, fighting against the snow current. [name]’s arm in the snow was slowing them down, thankfully, but the way the lapins were still charging after them made him stressed.

“unbearable bastards! i hope you all get buried,” [name] cursed under his breath, directing their sled and fighting against the current of the snow as hard as he could.

but the icy pain was getting torturous, to the point he felt like passjng out. his entire arm was buried underneath the fluffy snow. his heart was slowing down, it had been the moment they started their journey. slower heart rate meant less blood pumping. less blood pumping meant he was running out of what he could use - without completely endangering his life, of course.

he could always just cut into his flesh once more and he was entirely prepared to - but that was a worst case scenario choice. he still needed to be conscious for the rest of the journey, obviously. passing out due to blood loss would only be more of a burden on sanji and luffy.

“shit, there’s still more snow coming down!” sanji cursed and his grip on the sled was wearing thin. “[name], i’m gonna-”

before he could finish his sentence, sanji went flying and luffy in a concerned filled haze, jumped after him.

“idiots!” [name] cursed, but instead focused on getting nami to safety before he went to rescue those two. finally, they reached a point on their journey where nami would be safe, or as safe as she could be, on her own.

she had blood splattered across her face, which [name] gingerly wiped away before setting her down on the snow. he untied the ropes in a hurry - throwing his cloak over her and promised her that he’d be back.

he looked over the terrain in focus, seemingly glaring at the snow before nodding in determination. he was able to see where luffy and sanji had dropped off. at least they were close to each other, [name] thought to himself before jumping into the snow.

to him, it felt as though it was an ice bath. but he bore through it, understanding that this was not the time to pay attention to that. sanji and luffy were up ahead, a couple dozen feet away. and nami was waiting for him!

he had to bear it for a little longer!

even if he was lightheaded from blood loss, even if he could physically feel his heart going slower — as if it were freezing, even if his legs were close to being completely numb.

“fucking snow,” he breathed out, lifting luffy up from the snow and throwing him over his shoulder, “fucking disease for infecting nami,” he said, stomping through the snow and looking for sanji. “fucking island for only having one doctor, how idiotic is that!”

when he got a grip on sanji’s jacket collar, he brought him to the surface quickly. the both seemed to have passed out, probably due to the sudden cold shock.

but he carried the both of them to where he had left nami.

he got to work in re-tying nami’s ropes, making sure they were tight. the cuts on his arm were no longer dripping, but rather turned into icicles in the cold snowy winds. crimson red shards were attatched to his skin and he grunted as he broke them off, throwing them down the snowy mountain without a second thought.

he looked at the arm and hand he had stabbed, attempting to move it at all. under his cloak was just a simple shirt so he made contact with the freezing snow with no protective boundary. his arm looked like it was turning purple, as were his fingertips now that he had discarded his glove. he cursed under his breath, finding it took a lot of effort to even wiggle his fingers back and forth.

“fucking stupid weather, i hate this island!” [name] shouted into the nothingness that surrounded them. his shouts made luffy stir awake on the ground.

sanji and nami remained unresponsive.

“[name]?! are they okay?!” luffy cried out, running to nami’s side, “is she alive?!”

“yeah, she is, but we have to go, now. you can make it, right?”

luffy’s eyes lingered on [name]’s mauled arm and hand, nodding as his hat shadowed his eyes.

“you take sanji, nami will be with me,” [name] said, luffy following the command easily.

[name] crouched down, getting nami’s cocooned body to rest snug against his. at least she herself provided some warmth to him, but without a doubt, he missed his cloak terribly.

he just hoped that this castle had sufficient heating, he felt like he needed to de-thaw himself as soon as possible. with nami and sanji both accounted for, [name] and luffy began their trek back up the mountain.

“you saved us back there, thank you, [name],” luffy said sincerely, watching with grim eyes as [name]’s arm showed dried blood.

“you’re my captain, she’s my navigator, and he’s my chef,” [name] obviously stated, taking in a deep breath, “of course i’d save you guys!”

he forced himself to smile, to ease luffy’s conscience.

luffy looked at him in shock before bowing his head down.

deep down, luffy began to feel incompetent. there were a bunch of thoughts running through his head, like if it was his fault entirely nami was sick? did he drag the whole crew, especially vivi, down with his antics?

[name] didn’t let him think about it for long though, seemingly reading his mind and pressing his bleeding hand along luffy’s strawhat.

“take it easy, captain, i’ll look out for us from now on,” [name] said simply before picking up his pace. "it's not all resting on your shoulders anymore, not while i'm here."

the two were running as fast as they could, now desperate for medical attention for almost all members of their travelling party. on the way to the top, they encountered a small lapin who was pawing at its parent.

“stupid bunny,” [name] murmured under his breath as he eyes the pathetic creature.

there was a pause as he and luffy both lifted the paw of its parent out of the snow, walking off before they could waste more time.

it seemed, though, their time was just made to be wasted today as they now encountered a familiar face.

“splinter shitter?” [name] asked out loud, recognizing the ugly face of their past enemy.

“we’ll teach you to not mess with us,” the crew next to wapol screamed.

“luffy, no fighting if you can help it! we’re all injured here and have sanji and nami to look out for! be serious!” [name] reminded him, “just keep running,”

“i know! don’t berate me!” luffy said in annoyance, finding it incredibly difficult to hold back his attacks as he could only dodge.

[name] jumped through the air in disgust of their attacks, knowing that they were only fighting so hard against them to take advantage of their weakened friends.

“i’ll kill you guys when i come back!” [name] shouted, tilting his head ever so slightly and causing the two of his lackeys to fall over. but they assumed it was the strong wind and continued their assaults.

thankfully, those lapins they had saved earlier did not forget the kindness of their actions. they jumped in [name]’s and luffy’s defense, creating a wall between the strawhats and the stupid wapol pirates.

“thanks, you saved us,” luffy said quickly, recognizing the animals, before running ahead with [name]. “[name] that was rude, you didn’t even say thank you to them!”

eventually, the wind got so strong that [name] couldn’t feel his arms or legs. but they were so close. the harsher the climate was, the closer they were. and his assumptions were proven correct as they were soon greeted by some cylindrical post, and at the top was the castle.

“let’s go, don’t think twice,” [name] advised. he walked over to luffy and sanji, gently unwrapping the scarf from sanji, quietly apologizing as he did so, and used that to secure sanji around luffy’s waist. he even made the blonde wrap his arms around luffy’s neck for extra security.

“[name], are you ready?”

[name] laughed, “wasn’t this whole journey a good enough sign for you, captain?! let’s get going already!” he ripped off his other gloves, knowing he’s get a better grip on the walls if he went in without a barrier between his fingers and the rocks.

luffy agreed with a hearty shout and the duo began their climb.

[name] was struggling due to the extreme frostbite he was experiencing, as well as the hole in his left hand, and the numbness in all his limbs. luffy was exhausted from running and fighting and only just woke up from passing out a couple of minutes ago.

the both of them were tired beyond their limits, but knew that this was life or death.

nami and sanji were both counting on them.

the wind was picking up the higher they were going and it genuinely felt like someone was cutting [name]’s fingers with each breeze that blew by. he cursed under his breath each time he had to go up one.

then his head whipped around in concern as he saw sanji slip from luffy’s back. that scarf could only take so much weight for so long.

“luffy!” [name] cried out in worry, eyes going white as he saw that sanji was only getting farther away.

“sanji!” luffy shouted, bringing his arm to whip backwards to catch the falling chef. the momentum of his swing, and the fact that the surface they were climbing was completely straight up made luffy fell back as well.

“shit!” [name] shouted, smacking his injured hand onto a particularly sharp edge of a rock and reopening the once frozen wound from his hand. blood seeped out almost instantly, splattering across his face.

but he only focused on sending it down to luffy, “grab on, luffy!”

the rubber man listened, stretching his hand and grabbing onto the solidified and frozen blood of [name]’s wound and grunting as he felt himself stop midair, due to [name]’s anchoring. sanji was now being held up by his teeth and he focused on making it back up the mountain to meet [name].

luffy’s fingers and toes were bleeding, completely ruined by the stone wall they were climbing. [name]’s hand wound was reopened and bleeding profusely. the cold wasn’t helping the h/c haired man’s heart either.

if they didn’t make it to the top soon…he’d surely die.

the treacherous journey seemed to last for hours on end before they finally made it to the snowy top.

[name] grunted, swinging his arm back and launching luffy and sanji forward. it didn’t take long for him to join them, falling face first to ensure that nami wouldn’t feel the entirety of his weight crush her.

just when he thought they were safe, the snow that [name] and nami had collapsed on began to slide at their weight. and before he could stop it, they were falling off of the top.

“save me, you cunt!” he shouted, sensing someone at the top of the mountain — very close by. but he was prepared to use his blood to stop their descent once more, if this figure didn’t act fast enough. but it was unnecessary, as a warm, fuzzy, strong hand stopped their fall.

[name] squinted as he looked up at the figure, feeling his vision go blurry as he tried to catch a look at the savior.

“hah? reindeer?” [name] breathed out in confusion. and those were his last words before he fell limp in the hands of the one who caught them, completely passing out.

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[princessofghosts-posts]

One of the differences between the first and second war in the books are the deaths.

PJO had so much campers dropping dead from TTC to TLO,and some of them even changed side to join Luke. So,when they were actively fighting the war,they were barely more than 80 demigods for CHB,and in those 80 people some of them died. I think at the end of TLO only 40 campers survived (I probably did the math wrong here since I don't remember well their final number). But regardless of the wrong math or not,that war had a lot of losses,both with the campers that stayed at CHB,and those that went with Luke.

That was a massacre between friends,families and values so the emotional damage was also extremely heavy on them. In BotL and TLO siblings had to off each other because they become each other enemies. Friends where trying to kill other friends because it was Luke's order and they were threatening their lives. The whole camp itself lost its integrity during PJO and the Ares Cabin come to their sense because of Silena. A lot of people,friends and siblings died,and most of them were probably still unclaimed by their own parents. They would never know that some of their victims were their own siblings.

Other than the high dead count,their emotions were a big play in this too. Those people are all traumatized by it and it's so strange that other than the aftermath in TLO and a bit of words in TLH,we never saw the full damage of it.

In comparison the war against Gaia is....that's not even a war?? Gaia herself is treated more of a danger when she is in the shadows plotting,still partly sleeping,than when she actually wake up. The main focus here should be the battle against the Giants and her,but we also have the "war" between romans and greeks. The thing is that is not a war since nothing really happens in it and they were more concerned about killing the monsters Octavian's got,instead of ending each other.

The dead count here doesn't even exist. Untill the end of SoN every demigod that died come back to life,and even after Frank,Hazel and Percy freed Thanatos nothing changed: the people that were killed stayed alive (yes,I'm referring to Gwen). But other than that there weren't deaths. There wasn't the weight of the sacrifice that you need to do for winning something,like in PJO. And the way they killed Gaia also didn't had repercussions on them. I was waiting for Piper to loose her voice or powers forever since she put a sleep the Earth herself. That never happened. Hazel had to die to "kill" Alcyoneus the first time,but in SoN? Nothing happened. Frank had to burn his life to get Thanatos out of his chains,but then? Nothing happened. Leo killed himself only to come back alive so his death is meaningless,and the campers found out about it a couple of weeks later so they never grieved much. Percy knew Gaia was going to choose him so he gambled his life fully knowing he was going to win either way.

Where is the real weight? Where is the real anxiety of not knowing if they're going to make it or not? Where are the real sacrifices? Where is the emotional conflict? The only people that died for real were Bryce and Octavian (we thanks Nico for that) but they were asshole so they don't really count. Bob? Damasen? Probably alive or reforming,but knowing that in TSATS they went to Tartarus for Bob,I think he is still alive at least. Gwen? Alive and well,living in New Rome. That's it. Some people almost died or got close to it (read: the main characters) but at the end of the day everything went fine.

The emotional scars are there and it's normal to have them after having so many near-death experience during HoO,but those technically aren't from the conflict itself,just from their quest like every other demigod. We felt the anxiety for them but nothing ever happened because the main characters always survive. The problem start when they become side characters for someone else story,so they can get killed easily since theirs already ended (read: Jason).

Honestly,it wasn't even a war since they spent 300 pages traveling. When I read the book I was pretty anxious when,even after half of it,they were all still traveling. I thought the "war" was going to get half of BoO but I believed it too much,since they ended everything in just 4 chapters from Jason and Nico PoVs. It was underwhelming. And it's as if the author wanted to publicize the message: "it's not the end that matters but the journey" with how much time they spent to actually get to places they needed to be,instead of fighting.

Having no one truly make a sacrifice and truly challenge their own fate,and taking away from the losses we already had,was something that really lowered the bar for this war. And the problem is that the war against Gaia should had been more demanding from the one against Kronos. She treated to destroy everyone and everything once she woke up in her true form,while Kronos was in Luke's body (with him trying to battle him at the end mind you) trying to take over the Empire State Building. Realistically who is more dangerous? And who also is the one that got put to sleep with the voice of a flying girl and a boy blowing himself up? Yeah.

HoO final conflicts have a lot of issues between the giants in Athens,Gaia at CHB and Octavian trying to start a war in the meantime. Maybe it's too much to handle for Riordan. Maybe he shouldn't had put the conflict between the camps since it got more spotlight than Gaia herself,the real problem and final boss of this serie. If done right,and with more time,it could have been something extremely good,but Riordan spent most of the time making the characters travel instead of actually doing the things they needed to do,so at the end he never had enough time to do anything. And taking away the weight and the losses of the war was another thing that made it worse.