#like me poking at her like lets dissect this bc no???

[femmesandhoney]

my mother is so judgemental but in that very casual misogynistic way where she'll be like wow don't those women look crazy and its just some random women chatting w each other casually minding their own business and im always like what about them makes you say that 😐?? and she'll be like nothing they just seem like it. like oh okay. sure.

[grokebaby]

Explaining this scene (from here)

Will mention mouth and throat inflicted violence and dissection. Also will get (slightly) more in detail about what's happening between these two

Context: Pesticinger has Siru come to her neck of the woods at night to perform certain rituals. It claims these are for ~Learning Purposes~ (which they are, in a way). This is related to that thing about folks wanting to learn and gain powers from Pesticinger. Siru's motives for being here, well.. I'll get into it later.

This exchange you see depicted, happens after Siru has cut out the tongue and/or vocal chords off of several animals (which includes birds. This is a crucial bit of info). Before this she also had to catch several of them with occasional help from Pesticinger, so she's a little tired, on top of it being quite a uh. Let's say emotionally challenging? Task? Especially seeing as how she also had to eat said body parts raw after cutting them out..

She's a country girl, she'll manage..

Despite the initial ick, Siru performed all this like a champ! At least compared to alot of humans Pesticinger has initiated into similar activities. This is what prompts the above "She's good at games! Bold, very bold she is!", which is genuine compliments given the situation.

So while Siru did All That™, Pesticinger hopped circles around her, chanting songs and urging her on (is it encouragement or pressuring...? I would say it's both.)

Considering the unpleasant tasks she's had to do, while it simply sang and watched, Siru feels it's appropriate to poke at Pesticinger a little. She has a very deadpan delivery and morbid sense of humor, which is why Pesticinger here is depicted as being taken aback and even unsure whether or not Siru is joking at first. These two have quite contrasting presentations and speech mannerisms.

What did Siru say?

She pulled a little "So, I'm guessing it's your turn next, right? I mean I've been building up with these small creatures so the grande finale's next, and that would mean.. You."

(you can see in the drawing, she's lazily pointing at Pesticinger)

I'm paraphrasing, but she essentially implied that to take it to the next level, she should now also cut out Pesticingers tongue and vocal chords, and eat them. Which, Pesticinger was not prepared for. This is supposed to be an initiation progress, and breaking previous limits Pesticingers followers might've had, in order to bring them in deep. In terms of gaining special abilities, this does ofc contribute to that, but lemme just say, Pesticinger losing her vocal components would be a huge blow.

Let me put it into perspective. People ordinarily do not hear Pesticingers speaking voice. When she sings yes, but when speaking normally, it looks like she's just moving her mouth elaborately. If she's not singing, or stealing somebody else's voice, Pesticinger is like watching a silent film irl. She has no voice of her own.

The other Plagues can hear her speech, and so can Pesti's followers, and most people who've heard her special song before. Not everyone, though. It tends to be a special occurrence, bc if someone can hear her speech it tends to mean something is a little wrong.. (ykno, how cursed songs are)

Siru could always hear it's speech, and that's likely due to her carrying some.. (glances at my previous post) supernatural after effects.

Siru eventually broke face and chuckled it away, but Pesticinger, in all honesty, remains a little unsettled by the suggestion. She doesn't let it show of course. Not to Siru, especially.

But, yeah. Maybe a bit of a power move to joke about inflicting it on the scary entity next, who's trying to break your limits by making you do disturbing rituals. As you do

[oh-no-its-bird]

Yes <3

But also probably not. The? Worst.

One of the worst for sure, but at least he won't huuurt him? On purpose, anyways. There's no value in it, there's arguably negative value in it actually, considering he already has his full trust and no reason to experiment on him

I can only see him possibly directly harming Kakashi for two reasons:

- Orochimaru wants to figure out how the jutsu turned Kakashi younger, possibly for his own immortality quest (but to avoid this Im just gonna say he then decides not to bc the memory erasing instantly cancels out any usefulness to him. What's the point of staying young forever if you can't remember shit ab your future self? That's not what he wants)

He'll probably still poke and prod him out of curiosity but like there's no dissection happening. And it's SO much nicer and easier to have a happily compliant to some blood tests kid Kakashi than a Kakashi who's been drugged up and injured trying to fight back to those same simple blood tests

- Or Orochimaru, in his admittedly at times VERY unstable mental state lashing out without care or real thought of consequences

VERY possible but also playing into the specific dynamic I'm picturing between them, Orochimaru would try very hard to avoid this not just because of the logical "this kid likes and trusts me and making him not will make everything SO much harder when rn it's stupidly easy" but also bc Orochimaru is kind of going through some subtle nostalgia on his end

The subtle nostalgia of a kid he used to babysit, who was the child of a friend of his friend (one of the very few friends that Orochimaru never had to face after he betrayed Konoha, and so a friend that lives on in memory as loyal and good to him) + the amusement of just. A tiny kid Kakashi being a total menace but trusting him implicitly while still feeling comfortable enough to sometimes talk back.

That's an actual child just. Comfortably existing around Orochimaru. He lets Orochimaru, the dreaded snake sanin, known for having a killing intent that can paralize just about anyone, pick him up and drag him around like a purse dog. Do you know how incredibly funny that is to Oro? Bc it's fucking hilarious actually, and he's getting a kick out of using this to fuck with people somehow

But yeah Orochimaru is unstable and shady as FUCK but he has multiple motivations, both logical and emotional (though he probably won't admit the emotional even to himself) to not harm Kakashi. So Kakashi will probably be fine— to an extent anyways

Also Kakashi's presence is also totally helping distract Orochimaru from that whole "going off the deep end" thing. He's like a therapy dog! A really deadly, confused therapy dog who misses his father and will bite anyone who touches him if their name isn't Orochimaru or Tsunade

(Somewhere, someone is sending Tsunade a VERY rushed and desperate letter that they pretty please need her back ASAP this isn't a joke and it's not ab the Hokage thing I promise just PLEASE come back)

(Tsunade is throwing it into the fire without reading it.)

Ok so rewinding a bit to when Kakashi first gets de-aged. He's confused and scared and the Hokage, not wanting to confuse and fighter him more, decides yk what? No one tell him his dad is dead. We aren't doing that.

This is arguably a good choice tbh, like, yeah. Don't tell the emotional 5 year old alarmingly talented shinobi kid who's was on track to graduate to chunin next fucking year that his dad's dead. It won't result in anything good.

Instead, Sarutobi tells him that his dad is out on a super special top secret mission rn, very last minute, very important. Also: very plausible!

Everyone gives themselves a pat on the back and Kakashi calms down a bit and they now try to figure out where to put him (they can't put him back in his clan compound or he'll automatically know snthns wrong)

Thinking they pass him off to Gai maybe?

Anyways: Oro gets him and then learns that they didn't actually tell him about his dad.

So of course he'll be kind enough to fix that <3

All that is to say, Orochimaru tells Kakashi about the suicide of his father and frames it as being the villages fault. The village killed your poor father, don't you know? Just because they decided he wasn't good enough for them... so sad, so sad.

And Oro, sensing a new big fish to chase and political plot to play with, having already been discarded by Akatsuki and Konoha, deciding yk what? New game actually :)

And he goes ahead and draws the connection between Sakumo's death bc of the village to the Uchiha's death to the village.

And Sasuke uhhh. Demands to know what the actual fuck he's talking about.

Oro shrugs, makes some implications, doesn't say he knows for a FACT Itachi was blackmailed into it, but yk... he always thought things didn't really add up... and it'd be SO like Danzo and his own sensei to pull that sort of thing 💅

Sasuke is having the worst time of his life thanks

Kakashi is also imprinting on Sasuke HARD. Especially after the reveal of his father's death and orochimaru's careful steering to make him identify with Sasuke (and vice versa, Sasuke with Kakashi)

Sasuke no longer needing Orochimaru for that whole "get strong enough to kill my brother" thing is now made to linger in sound due to a mix of being attached to Kakashi (while knowing he won't be able to get him to leave Orochimaru without a lot of groundwork) + maybe lingering plots for whatever Orochimaru has in store? Like, Oro can feed him a revenge plan on Konoha or whatever, and he sticks around for that

Idk but Sasuke is going through it

Kakashi meanwhile, projecting a lot and also absoloutley going through it, is stalking Sasuke through the halls of Sound. He's his little shadow and Sasuke can not get rid of him no matter how hard he tries— it's kind of impressive

Sasuke teaching Kakashi to do chidori again,,

OH ALSO Orochimaru totally also just. Told Kakashi ab the truth of him being de aged. Probably conveniently left out a few details, but Oro is going the route of "I haven't done anything bad to him as an adult and suffer no losses by telling him the truth, but it might bite me in the ass if I lie to him (especially after weaponizing the fact that the Hokage lied) so I'll just tell him the truth of it"

Highly effective! Kakashi is now even more trustful of him!

I want a bit where Orochimaru goes to give a curse mark to Kakashi, just like Sasuke's. And Kakashi, trusting him, just kinda sits and waits patiently for him to do it. But as Orochimaru leans in to do just that, he stops. And he hesitates.

And us, the audience, know he's thinking about Sakumo. About a dead man he once called a friend.

And he pulls back and pats Kakashi on the head and says that you know what? Actually, he has a different idea.

Anyways, Orochimaru giving Kakashi a fake curse mark, for appearances sake. Can't let people know he might really be going soft! Or,, whatever happening there. It's a really complicated topic actually and he's still kind of visibly, violently swinging between moods of insanity

If I were to write this fr, I think it'd be fun to leave that scene intentionally vague. The audience gets to see the lead up of Orochimaru leaning in to give a willing Kakashi a curse mark, then the aftermath of Sasuke losing his shit over it.

But then chapters later, when Kakashi had presumably left the caves of Sound w Sasuke, Karin is poking at his curse mark and reveals that it's a dud.

Just like really bring up those fun complex morally grey themes and "did Orochimaru,, actually care? Is he even capable of that?"

(Sasuke and basically everyone else except maybe Kabuto has been convinced Orochimaru was purley playing pretend w Kakashi)

It doesn't like redeem him or anything, but it just adds that complex spin of like, he's still a person. An awful, deeply disturbed person, but still a person. We all are. And also Kakashi can continue to have his own really weird trust in Oro bc he truly never hurt him. But that unfortunatley doesn't make him good, it just makes Kakashi an outlier.

I'm honestly just having fun thinking about balancing Orochimaru as he nears / exists in the heights of his insanity at this point of naruto, with the objectively good parent we see in Boruto. And just how being around a child he's fond of, who's the child of one of the only men he's ever been able to call a true friend, might affect / bring out those sides of his.

Awful awful man, I'm so fascinated by him. I want to put him in a blender and see what color smoothie would come out

Meanwhile also, Kakashi is somehow managing to advance at an even faster rate than he did the first time. Its probably the fact he's being trained directly by the fucking snake sanin at peak strength + Sasuke being able to teach him chidori + the motivation of "the village killed my father" Oro gave him

In sound, he has nothing to do but train and learn and stalk people. And he's surrounded by workaholics with their own mountains of issues who don't give a shit enough to tell him to calm tf down

Oooooh ok hear me out, Orochimaru kinda seeing a bit of his own past self in Kakashi and taking on this personal project of like— ok well I fucked up my own body SO bad I locked myself out of so much. I kinda wanna see what would happen if I trained this prodigy child in these specific ways that I as an adult regretted not training with when younger

Sasuke, in finding out Orochimaru wanted to steal his body, figures he was training Kakashi as a backup, and confronts Orochimaru ab it

Orochimaru: (actually didn't even consider that and was doing this just for fun)

Orochimaru:

Orochimaru:

Orochimaru: yes. That's why I'm doing this. Oh no you figured out my master plan.

Orochimaru: fuck, why WASNT I planning on doing that??

Orochimaru then has to have a crisis about like. Ok so I legally, logically do have to consider doing that now. Like. Why am I not planning on doing that??

Shit I don't think I want to. But why wouldn't I want to??? Fuck.

Wait no it's because he's a child. I don't want to have a child body it'd totally throw off my style. Yeah. The youngest I can pull off is pre teen and I don't have time to wait for him to reach that age. That's exactly why. For sure.

(He's just allergic to admitting he might actually care and that Kakashi activates the saner parts of his brain that likes having people who genuinley like him around)

Anyways.

Kid Kakashi doesn't have Obito's eye, right? So hesr me out: when he got de aged, Obito automatically got his eye back.

And uhh. Didn't react well to it, actually. One might even be so bold as to say he reacted really, really badly to it.

So Obito REALLY wants kid Kakashi. Like. Really, really wants him. He is in fact breaking into sound and trying to lure him closer with candy (it's not working.)

Obito is incredibly fucking torn between like, hey so Kakashi didn't mean to lose the eye.

(Not just lose it but give it back. A somehow even worse insult. The eye not just discarded but fucking rejected, returned to sender, forgotten.)

Obito doesn't let Zetsu know he got his eye back (Zetsu would probably want him to keep it)

And then he decides yk what? This is fine.

He'll just have to give the eye back to Kakashi himself :)

Cue impromptu kidnapping and eye surgery!!

Ahaha don't worry Bakashi, Obito will make sure it looks just like the original! And he's so nice as to also make sure it goes quick and painless <3

Kakashi gets dumped back into sound with a new eye and no one takes it well.

Orochimaru, who just established/justified to himself why he can't body snatch Kakashi, now staring at the boy where he's now outfitted with the exact reason why he was gonna body snatch Sasuke, knowing he no longer has any excuses: Fuck.

I think Orochimaru should continue to get more unstable but like. Be hyper aware of it and also have moments of clarity where he knows he now has Kakashi, who he doesn't want to hurt. And so he kinda orchastrates/pushes Sasuke into either running off w Kakashi (+team Taka) to go find Itachi or into killing him (possibly bc with that clarity of "I don't want to hurt Kakashi" also comes the realization of how disgustingly low he's fallen from the figure of power and knowledge and arguable sanity he once was)

Whenever Kabuto revives Orochimaru or however the fuck that went (I dont actually know how he comes back later) Kakashi ends up helping, pass it on

Uhhh final notes:

Itachi sees baby Kakashi with his little brother who now also knows the truth of what happened bc Orochimaru told him and has a stroke

Karin (and later Orochimaru) help cure/stabilize him of his whatever disease

Whether Kakashi gets aged up again or not idk but he does get to go on lots of team Taka adventures, and Karin uses her insane chakra pool and healing to help him adjust to the eye way better than he did the first time

+ Sasuke goes even more insane ab projecting with the forcefully given eye (maybe Itachi can try to forcefully swap eyes w him too?? Would be on brand for Itachi 'dumb-fuck ideas' Uchiha)

Kakashi's presence somehow prevents Orochimaru from killing Hiruzen, meaning Tsunade is still out in the wild somewhere— where Team Taka accidentally run into her and maybe get her to join them? Or smthn idk but she recognizes Kakashi and loses her mind, bc she was also one of his old babysitters with Orochimaru

When they inevitably interact with / go back to Konoha, Gai is put on Kakashi catching duty

Yay ok post over that's it thanks for reading bye

Fic where Kakashi gets de-aged to like, under 5. Real, proper emotions and intuition over all logic child age, not even training under Minato yet so no hang ups or super deep character attachments other than just to his dad

And he doesn't recognize anyone— the best you'll get out of him is mistaking Gai for Might Dai. And he keeps asking for his dad.

Then they fucking lose him and through some convoluted roll of the dice, he winds up running into Orochimaru

But the thing is that Orochimaru used to be a friend of his father's. And he's aged really well and he's just very recognizable in general. So suddenly u have little Kakashi gripping onto the hem of his robes bc this is the only guy he knows he can trust. It's Tou-sans work friend!! Not any of these weirdo strangers who keep acting way too familiar (and overly invested in seeing his face under the mask, that means you Naruto)

Orochimaru loves this turn of events, what a fuckin chess piece!! Sorry Konoha, if u want ur baby genius back you'll have to pay the big bucks 💅

Same to you, Akatsuki guy who's weirdly invested in all of this (Obito)

Orochimaru doesn't even treat him that bad too, like he's definitley not a good guardian or anything, but he's not,,, bad? He has no reason to treat Kakashi badly or experiment on him, and he did once consider Sakumo a friend so there's some nostalgic fondness wrapped up in it all

Kakashi is legit living his best life out in the caves of sound, and hey, if he accidentally distracts and helps trick Orochimaru into being slightly less worse than canon, everyone wins, right?

[astrobei]

Okayokay, here for the writers asks:

🙋🏻‍♀️ Do any irl people know that you write fanfic?

💞 Who is your comfort character? +

🤩 Who is your favourite character to write

🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

omg hi soso !! thank u for including the questions so i don’t have to keep flipping back and forth between the ask post and this SKDKDJD OK LETS SEE

🙋‍♀️: HELL no omfg no they do not and we’re going to keep it that way !! i do have a couple friends that knew i used to ! back in like 2016 or so we would write fics for each other and it would be our little thing but as far as they know i’ve . stopped . LOL

💞: um i have too many to count but since this is a st blog i’m going to say probably will or robin ! idk robin is just so refreshing i remember loving her when s3 came out (i was just gay but i also love her) and there’s just something abt her personality that is so deeply personal to me (the neurodivergency?) idk i just want to put her in my pocket and give her a big hug! and also will obviously do i even have to say anything i feel like he’s everyone’s comfort character 😭 even though all he knows is sadness and heartbreak and pain and loss and basically everything But comfort . he’s just so <3

🤩: mike definitely mike! as u all have probably picked up LOL i just relate to mike a Lot and i find his inner monologue rly easy to write bc it’s very similar to my own/the way i think? and especially bc the last two seasons were largely will pov i love writing him bc it’s an excuse to get inside his head and put hie brain under a dissecting scope and poke at it with a stick! as for side characters, i really love writing lucas because he’s so fucking funny and wheelclair and byclair are so personal to meeeee ! and also willel in general. love love love i always get so carried away w their scenes oops

🌞: i think i answered this in another one but i’ll do it again since that probably got buried under my pile of asks since then shdjdjd i definitely write a lot more at night bc my brain just thinks better when it’s dark and quiet out ! but i do a lot of writing on the google docs app on my phone (way too much actually it’s not good for my thumbs) so i’ll jot some lines down or write a scene on the bus/in between classes/etc.! however lately i’ve also begun writing more in the afternoon on the weekends and stuff when i have time and doing sprinto on discord w my friends which is rly fun! so basically . all day all the time 😭

thank u sm for these they were so fun !! 💞

[honorarycassowary]

Okay so unfortunately I like Egyptian mythology and dissecting Shadow Bastard like I'm a morally deficit scientist and he's a mutated radioactive rat is one of my favourite hobbies, so I'm gonna be insufferable for a bit, especially since I read up on Best Girl and have Thoughts about her, too.

(I'm gonna refer to MK!Ammit as Ammit and Bartseq!Ammet as Ammet/Shadow Bastard, both for easier differentiation and because that's the way it's spelled in the book.)

(Fun fact: Bartseq is one of the only two instances where I've seen this particular name written like this (as opposed to Ammit/Ammut/etc) and given he/him pronouns, with the other being the Polish translation of Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" (I say Polish translation bc Idk how it's written in the original.) I wonder why these choices were made while Ammit is usually depicted as feminine.)

So idk if I'm willing to agree that the only thing they have in common is their name and being 1000s years old - they have a few specific similarities, but otherwise they're nearly complete opposites of each other, and said few similarities highlight those in an interesting manner.

One of said similarities is that they're both misguided in their purpose and act according to their nature even when it's to the detriment of themselves and everyone around them.

In the original myths, it's Ammit's job to devour the hearts of the condemned, and I like how the show took that to the extreme by making her hunger for justice so great that she doesn't even wait for the soul to sin, just looks at its capability to do so and strikes even before they make the choice.

Ammet, meanwhile, takes on the form of a shadow, which traditionally represents one of the pieces of a human soul (shut/shwt/shuyet) which, depending on the text/dynasty/academic/interpretation might act as a guardian of sorts, watching over the soul on its way to the underworld. In the same way, Ammet is deeply protective of Khaba even when it's clear (at least to the audience) that K doesn't care about him. (poke me sometime and I'll go off about how this parallels Asmira's initial blind obedience to the Queen of Sheba.) An extension of that could be the instinct to protect overriding the hatred of humans and those, y'know, millennia of enslavement.

(By the way, it's pretty interesting that the entity named after a demon which eats the hearts of sinners is so desperate to obtain the heart of one of the worst sinners in the book series - a priest of Ra, too! Albeit a terrible one. Poke me sometime and I'll go off about how objectively Weird Khaba is for an Egyptian magician - a sinner who, unfortunately, has no intention of giving it to him.)

I think that the above dynamic of master/servant is a flipped version of Ammit and that little devotee of hers who helped her achieve her goal, with Ammit being dominant where Ammet is submissive. Then again, Ammit IS a goddess whereas Ammet is just a spirit worn down by years of slavery and drunk on a brief moment of being treated slightly better than usual.

So yeah, I do think tha Ammet and Ammit are both misguided and seem to genuinely believe that what they're doing is right (Ammit because it's in her nature to punish sinners and every person has a capability to sin, and Ammet because he's an egotistical simp who doesn't care about his fellow spirits and is fine with helping his bf climb on top of the world and then promptly set it on fire.)

They also are overly confident in their abilities and like to play with their prey instead of just killing it outright, leading to said underestimated prey rightfully kicking their asses and setting the whole carefully concocted scheme ablaze. Oopsie.

Then there's that thing where they both have a special little mortal they like because he's fucked up and serves their schemes/they have the same hobbies. And ambitions ("hey Ammit let me help you"/"hey Ammet let's take over the world and be terrible to people together.") Except, again, the master/servant dynamic is completely flipped on account of Ammit being a goddess and thus more dominant, and Ammet being just a spirit who is usually brought into this world enslaved and wrapped in magical chains. This might also contribute to his overall simpiness because in addition to their shared hobbies, the way Khaba is treating him is likely the best he's ever been treated - I mean, when the bar is so low that it's practically a tripping hazard in hell, stepping over it isn't particularly difficult.

I wonder if we can contrast Ammet's unrequited love for Khaba with a certain degree of indifference Ammit harbors for her little simp - it's clear that despite all the help he was to her and all the boons she gave him, the guy was just a tool and an eventual snack. In both cases shipping the couple romantically becomes yet another example of a monster falling in love with their food, like Venom. Or Hannibal if you take away the monster bit.

Listen, the "hubris-ridden mortal and a devoted eldritch horror who'd destroy the world for them" dynamic is Very Important To Me For Many Reasons, although "mortal is endlessly devoted to their godly spouse who is in turn endlessly devoted to them" is also fun, so I might just take you up on the offer to read fanfic with Ammit and her little boytoy. We do need more monster ladies in the media.

Anyway.

Yeah, like I said, both Ammit and Ammet were sent to Time-Out for a couple thousand years because they caused a few too many problems on purpose, though where Ammit starts the story this way and wanting to be free, Ammet only ends up stuffed into that amphora at the end of the book. F in the chat, you two.

In other words, sure, their arcs, pronouns and bedroom preferences are different, but in essence both of them are overly confident, overly ambitious horrors who bit off more than they could chew and not even their special little meow meows could save them from being yeeted by the (somewhat) shape-changing protagonist with several different names and a badass fighty teenager lass. Sure, they're different, but their differences are almost complete opposites of each other and their similarities enhance these differences really well.

Rest in pieces, A&A. At least one of you could say that you achieved godhood and the other of you got laid.

So uh, maybe I'm being nitpicky and over analyse stuff, but yeah, rant over. Idk if it makes sense because I'm tired and it's late, but here are some of my Thoughts on Best Girl and Shadow Bastard, spilled all over your inbox for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to pay them no attention whatsoever if you don't want to slog through all this nonsense.

oh WOW you do not have to apologize for this meta, I love thoughts on both Ammet and Ammit

re: Ammet specifically, I never got the impression that he was literally the god. (If he was actually being worshipped, I'd expect him to be closer to Nouda in power level, for one.) We know spirits in the series can have multiple names and, IIRC that book of names we see correctly, that names can be repeated. My guess is that Ammet was defined using that name to be a spirit inclined towards punishment and hounding out sinners. But there's nothing stopping him from deciding that the people who really need to be hurt are everyone who fucks with his boyfriend master co-conspirator.

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again

let’s get into it and by it i mean talking about whatever the fuck i’ve been up to re: media consumption this week

starting to bold links as well as category headings bc they simply do not show the fuck up on dashboard for whatever reason

listening i can track how well i’m doing any given week by how much mother mother i'm listening to. Problems off the album Eureka is in the category of “danceable but sad about it”. i WILL use the lines “ You're a beauty/A luminary, in my face” for a fic title. watch this space

reading

looking at various styles of small weird handbags (don’t worry about it) and rediscovered one of my favorite textile blogs, Franklin Habit’s The Panopticon (sadly on hiatus these five long years). i made a steam account and a ravelry account the same winter, 2012/2013, the height of the small handicrafts blogosphere. Mr Habit is not only an accomplished technical knitter, he enjoys deciphering antique knitting patterns. good shit. dissecting a pattern for a pair of victorian bathing drawers is particularly good, this is my favorite unrelated small weird handbag to carry around your WWI knitting for the troops

watching Immortals (2011, dir. Tarsem Singh) - going through a modern sword-and-sandals kick, bc i want a minimal brainpower movie i can just sort of have on in the background. had to watch it without subtitles, i do not think subtitles would have improved my understanding. i mostly watched this one for Eiko Ishioka’s stupidly beautiful costumes. she collabed with Singh on several of his films, including The Fall and Mirror Mirror. Mirror Mirror imo is the platonic ideal of a fairytale costume film, especially in the first wedding scene, but suffers from the same problems of being completely fucking unwatchable otherwise. these costumes for a quartet of oracles in Immortals, tho- fuck me they’re good. Ishioka is not afraid of giant dramatic headwear, and i really don’t mean to or want to reduce her to Cool Hat Lady, it’s just that there’s a shitwhack of good hats and masks and veils in this film

playing bullied into replaying the original bioshock, which i last touched in 2015. the first time i played through this, i thought this woman with a perambulator was atlas’ wife and child bc i JUST heard about them and she, of course, killed me. sort of morosely poking through the medical pavilion, my least favorite part of the game. i find there is an awful lot of backtracking and a heavy reliance on jumpscares- like they didn’t fucking get me this time around bc i remembered them all five years later, so good on the game for a really terrifying first playthrough?

making two things this week! a v cute drippy got the morbs? cross stitch, wherein i am waiting for more thread bc this thing is eating up thread way faster than i anticipated and i cannot eke one last project out of this swampy green skein. also a tiny tumbling blocks quilt block coaster- the points are not as poifect as i usually expect out of my own work, but what the fuck ever it’s a coaster. 

[klaushargreevesofficial]

call my bluff, call you “babe”

steve harrington x robin’s best friend!reader

requests: heeey could you write steve harrington x fem! reader where she is robin’s best friend and she had a crush on steve during high school but he never notified her but one day she went visiting robin during her work and steve falls in love with at first sight (like she has a different personality from robin, she has like a bubbly personality) ijkohghjjkk thank you so much !!

Steve falling for robin’s best friend and her being skeptical bc she liked Steve in high school

title from taylor swift’s “it’s nice to have a friend”

word count: 4,381 (!!)

warning for cursing because i have the vocabulary of a 12 year old boy

“so you don’t care about me, is what I'm hearing.”

“god, you’re dramatic, y/n,” robin laughed, trying to pull on her shoes while navigating around her room. she was failing to maintain her balance, and every clumsy hop around her room served as punctuation of your premature loneliness. Robin was heading to work, an early morning after your late night sleepover. curled up to your ears in her sheets, your eyes followed her around the room. 

“I can't believe you’re leaving me to go hang out with steve harrington.” you punctuated your statement with a faux gag. Robin replied with a noncommittal hum and leveled her eyes with yours, serving to agitate you more. 

“I'm not hanging out with him. I'm trying to make money so I can afford all of the expensive candy you like for movie nights.” finally dressed and ready for work, robin sat on the edge of her bed. “and you,” she poked your head, “would like him, he’s not that bad anymore! annoying? yes! but an asshole? not at all.” 

listening to her lift steve up made you uneasy. all through high school, steve had been your dream boy. hadn’t he been everyone’s? with the hair, the eyes, the swagger in his step as he walked past you in the hallway...you just about died thinking about it. how embarrassing, you thought. having a crush on steve, the untouchable asshole of your formative years, was about as out of character and cringey as you could have gotten. he never spoke a word to you except to ask to copy off of your homework, and even then, he called you by the wrong name. but god, that boy was pretty. 

after graduation, you did your best to avoid steve at all costs. not that he would notice or care, but rather for your sake. it was embarrassing to recall the amount of times you had imagined him choosing staying at your house over a party, or fantasized about running your fingers through his hair. it was your character flaw that you decided to ignore and actively suppress. steve was an asshole, and you recognized that. thus, the active forgetting of steve harrington.

 the plan to gradually forget about your schoolgirl feelings for steve had been working, working really well. you’d stopped obsessing over that one time he had accidentally bumped your shoulder in the hallway (and walked away without apologizing, thank you very much), and you couldn’t even remember what color his eyes were. then robin sauntered into your house with her spare key and an unperturbed way about her, proclaiming she landed the mall job and “y/n, you’d never believe who my co-worker is.” and then the humiliation that came with liking steve came rushing back.

 did you resent steve? not at all. but at certain points, when you were at your lowest, you wished he could feel as lowly and unimportant as him and his adolescent goons had made you feel. sometimes, though you would never admit it, you wished steve harrington would pine after you, simply so you could brush him off and crush his pretty boy heart as he had crushed yours in high school. but thoughts like that made you feel bad, and were definitely not feasible. the only time nowadays that you had a vague hatred towards steve was when robin went to work. screw him for winning over your best friend too. 

“go to work, buckley. when you come home, i’ll be here, in this spot, borderline comatose. wake me up then.” you turned to your side and closed your eyes.

“maybe you could come see me at work, y/n! i’m sure my parents would much prefer that, rather than you lounging in my house all day.”

 “mmm, they love me,” you replied, already slipping back into a half-asleep state.

 ------------------------

“y/n!” robin exclaimed. “wait, is that my shirt?” you stalked into scoops ahoy, dark circles under your eyes. you had awoken after another 3 hours of sleep, and after 30 another minutes of being alone in robin’s house, you decided to finally bite the bullet and visit her at work. there was no motivation besides boredom, loneliness, and the hope that robin’s offers of free ice cream when trying to coax you to come still stood. 

“i’m exhausted. can i get a vanilla cone?”

 “i don’t see you opening your wallet to pay, y/n,” she said, her motions towards the freezer contradicting her words. she scooped a cone for you and one for herself, and you guys chuckled at how quick robin was to shell out ice cream that would probably come from her paycheck. leaning against the counter, you reveled in the silence that settled as you ate your ice cream. you cherished these moments with robin, where you guys could just enjoy each other’s presence, words unnecessary. for as much as the two of you talked, they didn’t occur often, but when they did, they were peaceful. 

robin and you both were enjoying the serenity of the moment, and then there was steve. loud, doors swinging, calling (or shouting, rather) for robin. instantly, you were on edge, and robin sensed it. she was aware of your past feelings towards steve, but unaware of how vast and intensely they spread. she was there when you’d comment quietly to her how nice he looked in his jeans, but absent for the doodling of “harrington” in hearts on the margins of your papers. 

seeing steve was a gust of wind in your hair and a suckerpunch to your gut, simultaneously. rigid, ice cream dripping down your hand, you turned to robin, who, despite being engaged in a conversation with steve about their break schedules, was subtly keeping an eye on you, making sure you were okay. “uh, robin?” both heads turned towards you, the first time steve had acknowledged you. the “ahoy” on their sailor hats was so aggressively there and ugly, it only served to make you more anxious. 

“is this…?” steve gave robin a look as if to communicate something to her, something secret, and you knew immediately what---or who, rather---he was referencing. stacey.  he thought you were stacey. stacey was robin’s beau, who you had listened robin talk about, cry about, gush about, for weeks. you felt blessed, as robin’s best friend, to be able to coach her through her first relationship, which you understood must be extra difficult as a closeted gay woman. robin never had any shortage of stacey related topics to talk about, and you were glad to serve as a sounding board. you’d always just assumed you were the only one robin could bounce her thoughts off of, especially because of her sexuality.

 steve thought you were stacey. which means...steve knew robin’s best kept secret. of course steve knew. robin had been preaching about how great and un-assholey he’d become since graduation, something that would only be tested and tried by robin’s candid confession of who she loved. you felt stupid for not having figured it out earlier. steve knew.

 “no, harrington,” you piped up, finally regaining your ability to speak for the first time since steve had kicked open the door to the Scoops backroom. “my name’s y/n, and we actually went to high school together. i’d say i’m surprised you don’t remember me, but you were an asshole back then, so….” you let your voice trail off, expecting a snarky remark back from the boy in front of you. steve knew. 

the only person behind the counter to pipe up was robin. “steve, this is y/n, my best friend, who is acting, surprisingly, much like one of those assholes she constantly proclaims to hate.” although she was addressing steve, her eyes were locked with yours. there was a jovial tone to her voice, she was clearly not upset with you, but you tilted your chin out in defiance, and tossed the remainder of the ice cream cone away. steve knew. he was quiet. “y/n,” robin began, her voice calm, “i’ll meet you at the Gap on my break. 2:45. go cool off, please?” you took a peek at your casio calculator watch. you had 45 minutes to kill. you gave her a curt nod, and completely disregarded silent steve as you walked out of the ice cream parlor. what had just happened? 

no, you didn’t mean to completely be a dick. it was hard to dissect your feelings. it certainly wasn’t fair for you to be upset that robin told steve her secret. you were proud she felt safe enough to share that important part of herself with him. if anything, you were more upset that of all the people in Hawkins, she chose your self-proclaimed, one-sided enemy.  but still, unfair. and...you sighed. steve hadn’t even said anything to you. could you blame him? he didn’t remember you, y/n, get over it, you thought. how long were you going to let your internal struggle with steve dictate your actions? especially now that there was a chance at a...mutual friendship of sorts, through robin. had you not fucked that up by the scene you’d just caused.

 seeing steve dredged up a lot of negative emotions, you realized. it was embarrassing, especially because everything you and steve “had” was fabricated in your brain. one sided, imaginary, call it what you want. and yet, here you were, harboring real, genuine hurt. at what point does an adult let go of these childish fantasies and quit playing the victim? had you only hurt steve’s feelings (which you weren’t entirely sure you did, seeing as he was just so quiet), maybe you wouldn’t have had the mindset shift, but you could tell robin was upset with your petulant behavior. and quite frankly, you were tired of holding on to high school. you turned on your heel, chuck taylors squeaking against the shiny mall floor, and walked back to scoops ahoy.

 the parlor was empty. no one lounging at the tables, cheerily eating a sundae. you assumed this was why steve and robin were huddled in the back room, having a hushed conversation that you could only hear remnants of. you chose to ignore steve yet again, but this time simply to give you the guts to ring the service bell repeatedly. if you pretended only robin could answer, it was easier to be annoying. she was used to you. so, with a heavy hand, you rang the bell. ding. ding. ding. ding. as you poised to ring it once more, steve opened the backroom door, scooper in hand.

 he let out a breath of what you marked as relief. maybe he’s just glad you wouldn’t actually be ordering ice cream, you thought, until he said, “i was hoping it was you.” 

“oh?” you spluttered, forgetting your whole purpose for returning to the ice cream shoppe. 

“yeah, y/n, i just,” he sighed as if to organize his thoughts. “you were right when you said that i didn’t remember you from high school because i was a pompous dick.” 

“i didn’t say those words!” you defended, then gestured for him to continue. 

“well, you might as well have. i just wanted to apologize, because i really sucked back then. i’m working on it.”

 were you ever expecting an apology from steve? no. maybe a few months ago you would have revelled in this, would have eaten it up and made him beg for forgiveness. but at this point, you had changed, and you felt that he didn’t even have to apologize. well, for much, at least.

 “you’re good, steve. i’m sorry for caring so much about social hierarchy. it probably isn’t even fair for you to apologize to me.” you shrugged.

steve leaned his elbows on the counter, next to the register, and thought for a moment. “fairness is subjective though, isn’t it? like, what’s fair to you might not be fair to me, or vice versa.” 

--------------

after you and steve had apologized to each other in the parlor of Scoops Ahoy, you, him, and robin had been inseparable. no outsiders would ever be able to tell that there was ever a time when you and steve weren’t on good terms...or on any terms for that matter.  as time progressed, you’d now easily call steve one of your best friends. you rarely were not at scoops ahoy, hanging out in the backroom and avoiding their managers. steve had an open invitation to your movie nights, now, although he wasn’t yet granted key privileges like robin was. (you were sure your parents would kill you if you ever gave steve harrington a key to your house.) you’d sat backseat in steve’s car as he and robin scream-sang songs you didn’t know the words to. steve and robin had a bond that you could never begin to understand, and you and robin had one steve could never understand.

 where did that leave you and steve? working on it, for sure. he was funny, intelligent, and quite personable. he was a great friend to robin, and a great friend to you. you felt bad for writing him off so soon. nothing was difficult with steve. you guys had split and shared plenty of burgers at the local diners, and often the two of you would go to the video store, where you educated steve about movies and their importance. steve was clingy, more so onto you than robin. he always wanted to come over, or wanted you to come hang out, or begged for you to tag along when him and robin went on an adventure. 

once, steve had sat you down with a very serious look in his eye, visibly nervous, and declared that you were his best friend. he didn’t know what a best friend felt like, he said, but since you were the person he liked to spend time with the most, it must be you. before you could reply with a similar sentiment, he had added “and robin. but she knew that.” 

so, yeah, things were good. and they remained good for months.

and then the switch flipped, and steve started skipping trio adventures, and calling off of work on days robin worked. calls were fielded, and whenever you caught him in the streets, he brushed you off with a “hey y/n” and a “gotta go.” you were worried, because he was isolating himself with no explanation. there was hardly a ghost of him in the spots the three of you frequented “what’s wrong with steve?” you had asked robin when you first noticed his prolonged absence. robin hadn’t brought steve up for a week, which was odd. normally conversations were peppered with his name, although you and robin had always tried your hardest to pass the in real life bechdel test. 

robin’s response of “i don’t want to talk about him,” confirmed your sneaking suspicion that something had occurred for steve to become so cold. robin and steve were two of the most easy going people you had ever met, so for them to have had an argument seemed far fetched. robin’s stoney features after you had mentioned his name, however, made it obvious to you that an altercation had happened. 

----------------

“what are you doing here?” steve stood behind his door, keeping it open only a hair so you couldn’t wedge yourself inside. 

“what is going on with you?” you asked coldly. the time for reaching out gently had passed.  “you’ve been absolutely ignoring robin & i, and for what, you asshole?”

 “oh shit, is she here?” his eyes scanned his front lawn frantically, in search for robin. “you shouldn’t be here, y/n.”

 “good thing you aren’t in charge of telling me what i should and shouldn’t do, dad. if you don’t talk to me...i’ll..i’ll scream!” 

“go away.” he motioned to shut the door. 

surprising him by how compliant you were, you turned on your heel and trotted down off of his front porch into the lawn. pleased with himself for getting you away so easily, he closed the door and turned the lock. as soon as you heard the lock click, and watched steve skate away through the window, you planted your feet and took a deep breath. 

and then you were screaming. god, you hoped his parents and neighbors weren’t home, because here you were, in steve harrington’s front yard, wailing. you were screaming bloody murder, pausing to catch your breath with all of the cadence of a baby’s cry. you started from a yell and transitioned into a scream. you screamed in every musical scale known to man. you screamed loudly, and you screamed even louder than loudly. your voice box was your portable “ring for service” bell. so, you exercised it.

it felt like years, although it was only 30 seconds of sound until steve came running out into his front yard. he was trying his best to be angry, asking you “what the actual fuck, y/n,” but he was stifling laughter. 

“i told you i would, steve.”“you’re so infuriating!” he let out a frustrated chuckle, and carded his hands through his hair, tugging. “and i’m,” he sighed, facing you with a hollow look in his eye. “i’m in love with you. god, i’m in love with you, and robin’s pissed. so i took a step away for her to cool off, and for me to,” he shrugged,”i don’t know, for me to get over it i guess.” 

for all of that screaming you had done earlier, you were now speechless. moments and moments, it felt like a million moments passed and there was nothing but silence. what were you to say? how do you respond to such a candid confession? finally, after what felt like three years of silence, steve cut his sad and unwavering eye contact and headed back into his house, leaving you there, feet planted, stunned into silence and stagnance.

 you waited a beat in his lawn, processing. then the only thing on your mind was robin. you made a mad dash to your car, shaking your key ring in an effort to start the engine faster. after speeding an ungodly amount, you reached robin’s house. you parked haphazardly in her driveway, shifting into park before you even braked to a stop.

 as you unlocked robin’s door, with your key labeled “robin’s” in big bold letters, she heard the lock jingling and came to the door. “y/n, i was just about to leave and come to your house! i want to go to a movie, is there anything good out?” 

“steve’s in love with me?” you spoke silently, feeling small, the gravity of the confession finally hitting you.

 “well, that’s not exactly a movie,” she tried to joke, but noticing the sullen look in your eyes, she sighed and took a seat on the couch. “yeah, he is.” 

“what the hell, robin?”  you took your usual seat to the left of her, sprawling your limbs out. “he told me you were pissed off.” 

“well, yeah! you broke your own heart in high school over him, and you were sick for years. imagine if he actually broke your heart? you’d be inconsolable.”

 “for him to break my heart, i’d have to feel the same way, dingus.” you poked her arm. 

“are you stupid?” she deadpanned, causing you to let out a shocked laugh and sit up straight.

 “robin!” you gaped. “i am not in love with steve!” 

“okay, you’re stupid,” robin said again, sending the two of you into a fit of giggles. you loved robin so much, that sitting there, laughing and talking about boys was enjoyable, and you almost forgot the two of you were talking about steve. your best friend steve. robin always knew you better than yourself, though, so her implications about your feelings for steve made you think. were you in love with steve? every memory the two of you had shared flashed through your brain like a movie montage. you and steve ordering two different entrees, and then splitting them. steve sneaking you into his house, past his parents, so you could lay in bed and read comics. steve letting you cling onto him during scary movie night, robin calling the both of you pansies in the background. that one time steve called himself daddy and your stomach did a little flip. 

“oh fuck, robin, i think i’m in love with steve,” you groaned, burying her head into her shoulder. everything was made complicated by this realization, you knew. robin and steve weren’t even on speaking terms because of this, and you hadn’t even been involved at that point. and you didn’t even respond to steve when he told you. he was probably so upset. further than that, what would robin think if you and steve were to like...try and get together? would she be mad? what would that mean for the three of you as a unit?

you relayed all of these feelings, thoughts, and questions to robin. although she was close to the situation and probably biased, you still trusted her the most to give you accurate and smart advice. her answers always were right, because she knew you better than you knew yourself. robin assured you that her and steve hadn’t explicitly fought, per se, but she had let him know how she felt about the situation and advised him to step away and sort himself out. but no argument had occurred, contrary to your imagined idea. there were no “bad terms” between the two of them, and robin said she felt like if she saw steve this weekend, they’d fall back into their normal relationship and banter. this soothed you. 

“but if...if steve doesn’t hate me, and something like, happens, how would you feel?” 

“first of all, y/n, you’re dramatic,” you nod in agreement. “as long as he’s not an idiot, and you’re not an idiot...i suppose i will be okay. as long as you’re not, like, gross or anything. but i trust both of you.” 

and that, honestly, was all you needed to hear. after pinky promising you would come back to robin’s house later and tell her everything, you left as quickly as you had come, whipping out of the driveway and going back to where your day’s adventure had first started: steve’s place.

 you felt like you were walking on eggshells around steve, and although you were so excited you wanted to scream (again) and bang on his door, you channeled all of your nervous energy into a doorbell ring and rocking back and forth on your heels. when steve came to the door, he looked sadder than you left him. his hair was wild, his eyes red.

“i love you,” you stated simply, but you felt like your words fell short. how do you put so much emotion into 3 words? there was no way that this could encompass what you felt for steve. you paused. “there’s no way that those words can encompass what i feel for you.”

 ------------

“you’re fucking annoying, steve,” robin stated, tossing a piece of popcorn at him as she stood up to leave. it was movie night at his house, and although he wasn’t really doing anything, him and robin were engaged in some playful banter. steve had made some comments about the poor cinematography of the movie robin had chosen, and she was displeased. you were situated snugly in steve’s lap, his arms wrapped around your waist. you vocally agreed with robin because, yeah, steve was annoying, and he gave your hip a pinch, making you jump.

 “asshole!” you yelped, peeling yourself off of him. 

“you love me,” he commented, not incorrect. 

“yeah, but you’re annoying.” you and robin were a united front, always, despite what you and steve’s relationship status was. you wrapped your arms around her tightly. “drive home safely, please.” she nodded and tipped an invisible hat. 

“i always do, y/n. you two lovebirds have fun, but not too much fun, because we have work tomorrow morning, steve!” she made a hand motion indicating that she was watching him, moving two fingers from her eyes to point at him. 

“aye aye, captain! get some rest, you’ve got a lot of ice cream slinging to do tomorrow. i’m thinking i’m going to hang in the backroom for a little bit.” he grinned as robin groaned, letting herself out of the front door with a sing-songy “goodbye.” 

“c’mere, love,” steve said, looking up at you from the couch. you gave him a big smile and returned to your seat in his lap, straddling him. 

this was the only thing that was different about movie nights now. you and steve would spend the night together afterwards. steve was your boyfriend now. could high school you believe it? you ran your fingers through his hair, giving him a soft kiss on his forehead. “i know you have work tomorrow, and i wanna spend as much time as possible with you, but i’m really tired,” you mumbled, laying your head on his shoulder.

 he nodded with a smile. “that’s okay, baby. let’s lay in bed, we’ll kiss a little, and i’ll let you sleep.” he pressed a kiss to the side of your head.

 as soon as the two of you were situated, face washed, pajamas on, covers pulled up to your chins, steve turned to you and pushed a piece of hair out of your face. “i can’t believe i have the coolest girlfriend ever.” “i can’t believe you’re this cheesy, harrington,” you replied, but his words made your chest warm. you were the farthest thing from cool, and all you had ever wanted was steve to think you were cool. although he was, at this point, not a very good judge of being “cool,” because he had evolved into less of a high school king and more of a loveable dork, you were still elated to hear this from him. steve thought you were cool. and you weren’t, clearly, but he wasn’t either. you pressed a kiss to his lips gently, a smile permanently etched onto your face. “i love you, dingus.” 

[ryodan]

Do you think sasuke loved sakura?

This will get a little complicated. 

If you’re asking ‘was sasuke in love with sakura’ in the romantically smitten sense of the term, then my short answer is: No, he was not. The longer answer would be: it’s complicated, but not hard to see or understand.

One thing that is important to remember is that Sasuke as a character has some of the most complicated relationships in the entire series; this was what gave us the giant plot twist that was Itachi, this was what gave us his intense relationship with his dad, and that was what made his feelings towards naruto come off a lot more complicated than that of naruto’s towards him. Let’s break this down.

Did Sasuke love Sakura? Yes, Sakura was, and still is, in fact one of Sasukes most precious bonds. He cared about her a great deal; so much so that he was willing to kill in the forest of death, going against his morals, as well as die for her to escape in the Gaara fight which would have meant he’d have to kiss his revenge (what he views to be the sole reason for his existence) goodbye. There are various scenes where sasuke shows how far his feelings towards Sakura (and team 7 in general) run. To list a few:

But he was not in love with her?

No. Sasuke had far more heavy things weighing on his mind to sit down and dissect the nature of his feelings towards team7, and hell, later on had hate clouding his every move. The first time he did do that was in chapter 698 when he was free of his hatred and given a chance to think clearly and put some dots together. But when his character arc includes and focuses on things such as

It really becomes no wonder that Sasuke just did not allow himself to indulge in a ‘fantasy’ that includes him being happy and healing with team 7

It wasn’t that sasuke didn’t have feelings for team 7. He himself was aware of the bonds they share and how much they affected him, and he himself was aware of the romantic context of the relationship between him and Sakura. It was more like him taking those feelings and pushing them aside as to not dwell on them.

sasuke @ feelings 

bc feelings made him go like this

Given a different circumstance however i have 0 doubt in my mind that sasuke would have fallen for sakura quite quickly. Why am I sure? To answer that question we will have to ask a different question.

What was the context of their relationship? 

Hella romantic. 

The scenes they share are mostly romantic in nature. Sakura was always the only girl that could get a reaction out of sasuke by doing something lovey dovey, he always had a softer spot for her and treated her marginally better than he did most people

My favorite is definitely the one where sasuke winked, it gives a little glimpse of what they must be like married

just scenes like this showing them having chemistry and wanting to be around each other make me 100% sure sasuke would have had a huge crush on her given different luck in life

but noOoo, you CanT cATch mE fEElingS

So, when was he ready to ~play at romance~?

The first time he really wanted to regain her as a part of his life was when he apologized, i’d say that was a moment when he realized how much he wanted to do in order to keep the people who mattered to him close. We aren’t really given much about the blank period but i’m assuming they were rekindling the bonds they shared and that was when sasuke wanted to give romance a shot, after he felt redeemed enough to indulge in such aspects of life, and after he understood the world without burdens clouding his eyes. This is a very mature move in my opinion, they both deserve a happiness they can both fully enjoy without personal issues weighing heavy on them. Hence the famous ‘i’ll see you when i’m back’ forehead poke. It’s intimate and romantic enough to signify something will happen in the future, but it’s not a make out session since it’s not quite right now. It’s honestly very sasuke.

He’s in love now, but when did he fall in love?

Definitely when they traveled but it’s up to your own hc to imagine how it happened. I’d say during their travels the chemistry they once shared flows with a lot more ease; they talk a lot more, impress each other with their strengths, share things about each other, have moments with each other that allow sasuke to experience what romantic love and being smitten with someone feels like and boom, he’s like ‘I think I want to marry this girl?’

Keeping with the The Office theme i’d say it was a moment like this when he realized yeah let’s get married you make me very happy

because c’mon let’s be real, they’re a pair of dorks.

[bethanyesda]

34: “ I don’t deserve to be loved. ” Fot Mitchy bc I love angst. ♥

Thank you for the prompt, Zoé!! ^-^

“I don’t deserve to be loved”

Mitch & Adele (platonic)

Non-Romanced Mitch (personal quest not completed by Inquisitor)

Angst

Maryden’s voice filled the tavern, entwining with the chatter to create a thick, cordial atmosphere that prodded at Mitch’s current state rather irritatingly, in his opinion. He could feel it pressing down on him, wearing him thin, but it was the tankard sitting before him that pinned him to his stool. The creak of shifting weight caught a portion of his attention and he flicked his ale-golden eyes sideways; there Adele sat, pulling down her hood, before shooting him a sharp look.

“Mitch,” she muttered in greeting. He watched as she flagged down Cabot and ordered an ale for herself, a sinewy arm revealed as her cloak’s sleeve slid downwards. The second pointed glance in a minute drew Mitch out of his hazy inspection.

“It’s rude to stare, you know. Especially when you grimace like that, Mitch.”

“Suppose I’m not used to being noticed,” he replied, “am I? Also, what’s that?”

Adele’s scowl deepened as he gestured to the skin of her arm, nearly poking at its mottled, damaged surface. Her glower blazed, but without the light one could expect from fire, instead trading it for a darkness that grasped his stomach and twisted it with a jerk. She tugged down both of her sleeves, shoving her forearms in his face.

“Look your fill; I have time.” She sounded angry, but not uproariously; controlled.

The others seated close to the pair at the bar stared, biting lips and widening eyes. Mitch clenched his jaw, but remained silent, taking the time to examine the imprints of what looked like hands, fingers splayed haphazardly, curling around her arms. Burns – he realised. The afflicted areas trailed further up into her sleeves, starting a tale that Mitch wasn’t sure he wanted finished. She snatched the scars out of his sight before he could consider asking, turning herself away from him on her stool.

“I didn’t do them myself, before you start speculating,” she growled, not even looking at him. Adele took a long swig of her ale, then continued. “Besides, we all have our secrets, don’t we, Mitchell?”

It was his turn to fix a less than friendly glare to the side of her head. It was neither questioning, nor curious – purely chagrined. He leaned in closely, ignoring the inquisitive looks they’d both earnt in the few short minutes they’d been in each other’s presence. Belligerence wafted off Adele’s hunched posture in swathes, but that didn’t deter Mitch from murmuring in her ear.

“You wouldn’t understand – you never will. Don’t you give me all that cryptic bullshit, right?”

“Or what? The big, bad demon will come for me in the night? Go get some rest, Mitch – Maker knows you don’t need to be drinking your sorrows away.”

“Right. What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Wouldn’t want to lose control, with all that raw power locked away in that thick skull of yours.”

“Why are you being like this? I get that you have your whole smarmy bitch thing, right, but don’t stroll in here and tell me what to do.”

She grabbed a fistful of his tunic, pulling him down to eye-level with a hiss. “Pick your sorry arse up and let the Inquisition help you, instead of sitting around, waiting for the Inquisitor’s say-so.”

“You don’t give a damn about me – you and the Inquisitor and everyone else just looks at me like I’m-”

“A monster? I get it. I really do. But I’m sick of playing babysitter to you and your tragedy. So, you’re different? You’re a danger? People want you locked up?”

“It’s not the same.” He wrenched himself out of Adele’s grip. Mitch straightened in his stool, feeling the room shrink until it was just him and the mage. Even in her defiant stare, there was something he recognised: pity. She pitied him. That, he felt, was the worst thing she’d told him of all. He fled the tavern, brow furrowed as he stomped through the empty courtyard under the black sky. Adele followed him, he knew that, but the rising heat inside him couldn’t be let loose in that tiny tavern – he needed to do this in open air.

“Go on, do it! Strike me down, for my sake!” Mitch roared, spinning around and swinging his arms out. If not for the sliver of skin just visible under the hood, and the crackling in the air that heralded an oncoming storm in the shape of this woman, he wouldn’t have seen her.

“That’s not what I’m going to do,” she said, “though I’m not surprised you think me so rash. You need help, not coddling – let me help you, if no one else will, for fuck’s sake. You go down this path, it’s not just bad for you.”

“So, it’s a selfish thing, huh? Don’t want the bomb to explode and wipe out your purpose?”

“You’re right – I’m glad we’re on the same page here,” her voice dipped low and threatening. “You pointed out my scars, though you’ve seen them countless times before. We don’t speak of them, but you don’t remember, do you?”

“Wha-…you never said that.”

“Oh? And why would I lie? Face it, you’re not Mitch, not anymore. You can’t remember me offering that help, that chance at keeping Mitch and that’s it for me. He didn’t take it, and now we have you, demon.”

His mind was holey, with gaps that only seemed conspicuous now they were mentioned. The Fade clouded his thoughts and he couldn’t untangle himself from her keen gaze and how it dissected him where he stood, frozen. The voices crushed the small voice calling out to Adele, feeble and strained, but amongst the swirling of his head, the Fade mingling with being, it swam to the surface on tired legs.

“I…I’m sorry, Adele, I don’t know what-…can you-?” Mitch felt his eyes sting with tears and he turned his face skywards, trying to blink them away. The warning in the atmosphere softened, gentle like the sound of her steps of approach on the grass. He dug the heel of one hand into his eye, wiping away tears.

“Just because the Inquisitor doesn’t think you’re a priority, doesn’t mean I think that way,” she whispered, tilting his face downwards with delicate fingertips. “I want you to know that I am here for you, no matter how prickly and growly I seem. I just…we’re all losing you, Mitch, and I hate it; hate whatever’s in your head.”

“Who’d have thought we’d be best friends, eh?” Mitch jested, throat raw. “Still…this is a lot. I don’t deserve this, you know? Bit of an idiot, can’t wrap my head around you…complex people.”

“You’re not exactly a simple character yourself, Mitch.” Adele snorted. “Now, don’t tell anyone I’m not being grumpy – it’s my default setting, and I don’t want people thinking I waver from it.”

“Hm. No promises.”

“Mitch.”

“One promise, then, alright?”

[alyssasmuses-blog]

“I’ll kill that son of a bitch who did this to you.” whose saying this spirit stein we just dunno

yikes this one is going under a cut bc yuck.

Spirit had learned to expect anything and everything while living with Stein, but somethings you just couldn’t predict.

For example, sometimes, he’d get up in the middle of the night to get a drink, and he’d be awake, dissecting a snake or a chicken or whatever animal he managed to get his hands on.

“Where’d you get that?” Spirit would mumble, and Stein would shrug, glancing back at him.

“Found it.”

One night, he woke up, and poked his head into the lab to see if Stein was awake. Sure enough, he was–but what he was working on was what freaked Spirit out. 

There Stein was, covered in blood, stitching up his own body.

At the sight of it–Spirit fainted, his body hitting the ground with a loud thud.

He woke up a few hours later, on the couch, a cold (or, well, lukewarm now) rag on his head, and Stein sitting on the chair next to him, smoking a cigarette.

“Oh, Senpai, you’re finally awake.”

“What…what happened?” Spirit mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“You walked into my lab and fainted.” Stein shrugged. 

It was then that the memory came flooding back, and Spirit sat up quickly, looking over at him.

“You were stitching yourself up.” He mumbled, as Stein nodded, lifting up his shirt to reveal the stitches, the skin around them still red and raw.

Spirit’s eyes widened as he slowly walked toward him, kneeling down in front of Stein, one of his hands moving to hold the shirt up, while the other hovered a few centimeters above the skin, tracing the line without actually touching it.

“What the fuck happened?” Spirit mumbled. “Did you get mugged or something? Who did this to you? W-Why didn’t you go to the hospital? You’re sixteen, Stein, you can’t just get a wound this big and expect to take care of it y–”

Stein’s eyes widened at Spirit’s rambling, a hand coming to rest on his shoulder. “Senp–”

“–And what were you doing outside so late at night anyways? God, you’re just a kid, Stein, you shouldn’t be–”

“Sen–”

“This wound is huge, holy shit, you know who did it, right? I’ll kill that son of a bitch who did this to you. I’ll–”

“Senpai!” Stein raised his voice, rolling his eyes. “I did it.” 

“I’m not talking about the stitches, Stein, I know you did that, I’m talking about the–”

“I did that, too.”

“…What?” Spirit blinked slowly, staring at him for a full minute before he brought his hand up to rub his forehead. “Oh my god.” He mumbled, running his hands over his face, “Stein, did you…” He let out a frustrated sigh, “Did you try to…dissect…yourself…?”

The grin on Stein’s face made Spirit want to reach out and slap him for worrying him so much–but Spirit quickly realized the concern for his partner didn’t fade at all. If anything, it was…worse? After all, Stein getting hurt by someone else, that was…something Spirit could wrap his brain around. But this? He didn’t even know where to begin…

“You need help, Stein…” Spirit mumbled. As much as he liked to think he was a good influence on Stein, there were just certain things he couldn’t do, and if he was really serious about taking care of Stein, he’d have to come to terms with that. “What are you going to do when I’m not here to lecture you whenever you plan to do a mistake? What happens when you try to dissect yourself and I’m not there to help patch you up?”

“You didn’t help patch me up, Senpai, you fainted.” Stein pointed out, as Spirit groaned.

“I meant metaphorically.”

“But you didn’t faint metaphorically, you–”

“Stein.” Spirit groaned. “Seriously.”

“I didn’t know you were intending to leave me, Senpai.” Stein said quietly, and for just a second, Spirit was sure he saw just a hint of a frown on his face, before it dissolved into his typical smirk. 

“Well…” Spirit bit his lip. No, he wasn’t intending to, but…his girlfriend had just told him she was pregnant, he was so close to becoming a Death Scythe, and they were close to graduation. It was only a matter of time before things changed, right?

“Well…?” Stein hummed, flicking the ashes off his cigarette before putting it back into his mouth.

“Kami’s pregnant.” Spirit said softly. “And I was…thinking of proposing to her.” He said, forcing himself to look up at Stein, whose mouth had dropped open, the cigarette just dangling there. One slight move and it’d fall into his lap. 

Spirit let out a sigh, reaching out to take the cigarette, and putting it out in the ashtray. “So my intentions don’t really matter, because…things are going to change whether we want them to or not, and I need to know you’ll be taken care of if I–”

“I’ll be fine.” Stein mumbled. “You don’t need to babysit me, Senpai.”

“I didn’t say I–”

“I’ll be fine.” Stein repeated and stood, pushing past Spirit, and locking himself in his lab for the rest of the day.

The next time Spirit saw him, Stein had a line of stitches going across his face to match the ones on his chest.